2 .

00

50 TRICKS
YOU CAN DO
YOU WILL DO
EASY TO DO
Compiled by W. F. (Rufus) Steele
Author of
'Card Tricks You Will Do" "Card Tricks You Can Do*
"Card Tricks Easy to Do"

Card Tricks That Require No Sleight-of-Hand

Contains over 50 of the

finest card tricks with a
borrowed deck and from
the brains of our very
best card magicians

Published by
LOUIS TANNEN
120W. 42nd Street
New York 18, N.Y.
 INTRODUCTION
RUFUS STEELE has intrigued me for many years. Tall,
slender, grey-haired, with penetrating eyes peering
through his bi-jocals. His almost school-teacherish ap-
pearance belies the strange tales which are whispered about
his lifetime oj between sixty and seventy years.
Little did he think when he began keeping cases in a
Faro Bank game in the back bay district in Boston that he
would use cards as a means oj livelihood.
Few men possess his fund of anecdotes concerning men
who follow the game of chance. That he himself is a past
master of the mechanics, subterfuges and procedures of
gambling is, of course, common knowledge among conjurors.
A book about Rufus Steele is as much in order as a book
by Rufus Steele.
Wewelcome, nevertheless, the appearance of another
volume from his pen. A book by Steele is an event because
ten years have been sandwiched between the publication of
each of his three preceding volumes. Volume number one is
being called for at one hundred dollars a copy and that book
contains only ten tricks. In no hurry to rush into print this
writer waits, selects, and discards his possibilities, goes out
in search for more until finally he has the choice effects he
really wants to publish.
The result is a book of practical, effective, easy-to-do,
sure-fire pieces of magical wizardry which will delight the
heart of any man looking for desirable program material. As
was expected he has had to go to some of the best known
card men in the country in order to get what he wanted.
You'll find it all in these pages.
The donors of these tricks do not always claim origi-
nality for the basic ideas involved but do for the final dress
in which the trick is presented. Over half a hundred tricks,
presented by friends of Rufus Steele, prove that this book
not only contains many card mysteries but also that Rufus
Steele is a man of many friends.
Anyone who studies and masters the different card tricks
book need never be at a loss to do his bit when
in this little
called upon. You will astonish your friends and add greatly
to the gaiety of the gathering.

With best wishes,

John Booth
 CONTENTS
Community Do As I Do Bert Allerton 5
A "Chic" Trick "Chic" Schoke 6
Colors Will Tell Eddie Morton 7
Mix — Cut and Look Billy O'Connor 9
LocationFrom New Deck Arthur Buckley 10
Your Number — Your Card Paul Rosini 11
This Your Card
Is George Coon 12
Money On The Line George Foster 13
Do For Me
It Gene Bernstein 14
Mathematical Marvel Arden Morris 16
Number Transposition Ed Mario 17
DeLuxe Spelling Trick 18
Improved Jack- Jack- Jack 19
An Old Trick in a New Dress Eric Peterson 20
While I Turn My Back Paul Rosini 21
Triple Divination Clarke C. Crandall 22
Cards and Pellets Stewart Judah 25
"Reverso" "Dorny" 26
Ducy-Ducy Dai Vernon 27
Number Trick 29
The Great Mental Mystery From Pinochle Little Johnny Jones 30
Spectator's Name Martin Barnett 32
Mathematical Discovery Harry Blackstone 33
That Number Down Doc Miller 34
Phenomenal Memory Paul Stadelman 35
You Could Have Selected That One Frank Shepard 36
Allerton's Indicator Bert Allerton 37
I Should Judge 38
Passe Shuffle Bill Baird 40
Three Card Location 40
Simplicity Transposition Lt. Royal H. Brin, Jr., USN 41
Name Your Cards Bo Bo 42
Figures Don't Lie 43
You Remember This One Bert Allerton 44
Spelling Card Trick With Duplicate Queens Bill Salisbury 45
Simplicity Poker Deal Lt. Royal H. Brin, Jr., USN 46
Twenty Card Sequel Lt. W. T. Williard 47
Riffle Shuffle 49
Two Digits 49
Tapping Trick Ed Miller 50
Bridge and Poker Demonstration W. F. (Rufus) Steele 51
Missing Deuce Bert Allerton 53
Royal Flush 55
Number Trick _ Van Osdol 56
Prediction Doc Roberts 57
Making It Stick 58
Mental Thought Bill Bowman 59
Revelation Bob Oswald 61
Ten Card Effect 62
Poker Stack From New Deck Bill Salisbury 62
In The Middle 63
 Whose Tricks?
Here's to the tricks we've stolen and
stealing is certainly wrong.
But after we've bought and paid for them,
towhom do they really belong?
For if A. M. doesn't claim them, and
S.
I. B. M. doesn't fuss

We hold our heads up proudly and say

they really belong to us.
For you had a barrel of apples
if

and left them to rot

And a neighbor came along and claimed them,
Would this be stealing? Most certainly Not.
For apples were made to be eaten, and
tricks were made for delight,
That's what we tell our conscience
when it keeps us awake at night.

Dedicated to
a patient and helping friend oj all magis
Jeneva Cox
Secretary to America's Professional Magic President
Gene Bernstein

Copyright 1946
By W. F. (RUFUS) STEELE
Chicago, Illinois

Cover by Herbert J. Borin

Chicago, Illinois
 COMMUNITY DO AS I DO
By Bert Allerton
This trick was originated by Bert Allerton who has been in
the Pump Room of Chicago for 5 years doing close-up work.
Effect: Any number of people up to eight all take a
card from the deck which is unknown to the performer. They
are told to remember their card and replace same in deck.
Then the deck is separated into piles of six cards each, one pile
to each spectator who selected a card. The performer now
—
asks them to do as he does place the top card of their pile on
the bottom of their pile and the next card on the table, the
next card on top place on bottom next card on table, this is
carried on until there is only one card left face down in spec-
tator's hand and when spectator names his card the card he
is holding is that card.

Secret: secret is very simple. The whole trick lays

The
in the fact thateach selected card in each pile is the second
card from the bottom in the pile handed to the spectator who
is told "to do as you do".
When you gather the cards from the spectators see that
they are all kept together in rotation of the way the spectators
give them to you. In other words you must remember your
"number one" spectator and the last spectator.
Nowwith the cards replaced in the deck they are brought
to the top of thedeck with the first spectators card on top of
the deck, second spectators card next and so on until you
have covered your audience that have selected cards.
Now ifyou can false shuffle the deck keeping the specta-
tors cards on top of the deck well and good. If you can't false
shuffle just place them on top of the deck and do a bit of talking
and then they will over-look the false shuffle. Now turn the
deck face up in your hand and say "you took a card, and you
also took a card" until you get the number of cards down on
the table as spectators taking part in the trick. For instance,
there are five people who have selected cards there will be
five cards face down on the table, because as you place a card
on the table from the deck which is face up in your hand be
sure and turn it face down. Now turn the deck over and place
one card at a time on the cards on the table. Each one of these
cards belong to your spectators. Now ask where you will take

5
the next cards from top, bottom or middle and again place
down another card on top of each pile. Now we have three
cards face down in each pile. Ask spectator where you
will take the next cards from and how many cards. Top,
bottom or middle. If he says "three cards" fine, you now
place three cards on each pile face down, and you are ready
to give each spectator a pile making sure you give "number
one" spectator the pile his card is in "the first pile" and so on
to the last pile. Now you tell them what to do. Take the first
card on top of the deck and place on the bottom of the deck
and the next card face down on the table. This will be carried
out until you have placed five cards on the table and the card
they have in their hand is the selected one.
Should you have less than eight people take part in this
effect, then I would take a pile for myself for demonstrating
purposes, which always helps.

A "CHIC" TRICK
By "Chic" Schoke
The deck is shuffled by performer and spectator is invited

to take a group of cards from anywhere in the deck.

Tell spectator, "If I were to ask you to take a card and
replace it in the deck you would be suspicious that I could con-
trol the card in some way. Now select a bunch of cards, and
as I run the faces in front of you, while my head is turned, I
want you to think of any card in the bunch. Now while my
head is turned take this bunch of cards and take your card
from it and place it face down on the side. Now shuffle the
balance and place them on top of the deck. Place your card on
top. I may have known the bottom card, so here is a bunch
from the bottom. Shuffle these and place these on top. Cut the
deck". Performer then takes the deck, spreads it and finds the
selected card.
Secret: Before shuffling deck glimpse top card and keep
it there. When
they take a bunch of cards, take them in your
hands and as you pass them in front of his eyes count them.
If there are 10 cards then the selected card will be the tenth
from known top card of the deck.
For instance:
1. Top card glimpsed (Ace of Hearts).

6
 2. Shuffled.
3. Group taken.
4. Deck placed on table and group placed in your hands.
5. Count cards as you pass them from hand to hand.
(12 cards).
Give him group and ask him to take his card from
6.

them and place on side.

7. He shuffles his remaining 11 cards and places on top
of Ace of Hearts on deck.
8. He places his selected card on top.
9. You take group from bottom of deck and he shuffles
these and places on top, then cuts deck.
10. Spread cards face up and look for Ace of Hearts.
Count 12 to your left and the 12th card will be his selected
card.

COLORS WILL TELL

By Eddie Morton
Here is a prediction trick that is new and merits some at-
tention. My friend didwith a lump of sugar but it can be
it

done by just writing your predicted card at the start of the

trick. I will describe it as Eddie worked it for me.

Effect: After the deck is shuffled have spectator divide

deck in two equal piles of 26 cards each. Spectator when he ar-
rives at 26 cards is not necessary to count the others
told it is

as there is no joker in the deck. Ask that the 26 cards be

separated as to colors in two piles, (this should be done singly
especially in the last group of 26 cards). Have the remaining
cards also divided in colors. If the first card is a red card that
is placed on the red heap and the black card you start a third

heap (or it can be black and then a new red pile). Now this
procedure gives you two outside piles of one color. Take the
spectator's hand and ask him to point to one of the outside piles.
What ever pile he chooses, whether it be the right or left hand
pile, he is to count the number of cards in that pile. When he
tells you the number of cards, you pick up the middle pile and
count that number and there will be the predicted card which
you selected at the start of the trick.
Secret: If you use a lump of sugar print the initials of
the card, say 10 D. clearly and have same in your trouser

7
pocket. With the initial side downward or as you like. Just
before you take spectator's hand you dampen the thumb with
the tongue or from a glass of ice water. (I usually have a cold
glass of "something" in front of me and the sweat on the glass
furnishes the moisture for the thumb) Upon pressing the
.

damp thumb to the lump of sugar the initials are transferred

to the thumb. With the thumb still damp take the spectator's
hand in the course of showing him what you wanted done.
With your thumb against the fleshy part of this hand and the
fingers pressing on the back, your thumb will leave an impres-
sion of the printed 10 D. on the fleshy part of spectator's palm
unbeknown to spectator. Now when the palm is shown to
some other spectator he is as much surprised as the owner of
the palm. If you don't care to use the sugar idea just write the
predicted card while the spectator is counting his 26 cards.
The predicted card is naturally known by performer as
he has glimpsed the bottom card of the deck when he asked
spectator to count off 26 cards and that is the card he must
use in this trick. Of course if the sugar idea is used you write
that on the sugar long before you go to your entertainment
and this card must now be placed on the bottom of the deck
in your favorite way.
The dividing colors is an old idea as you have 26 red cards
and 26 black cards. Therefore should there be eleven red cards
and fifteen black cards in one half the other half would natur-
ally have fifteen red cards and eleven blacks. The one thing
that you must keep track of is your piles, the first 26 cards I
keep the color of the predicted card in the center and the re-
mainder of those cards at the left. Now when the other 26
cards are counted I place the predicted card on the center
pile and the opposite color I make a new pile at the right. Now
you have two small outside piles of one color and one center
pile of 26 opposite color cards. The first card off the bottom
of the remaining 26 cards heap is the predicted card. Now after
the cards are all separated in colors the spectator has pointed
to one of the outside piles. You have him count the cards, and
what ever number he has you count down in the center pile
to that number and there the card is. If he points to the right
hand pile you leave the center pile as it is face up and if he
points to the left hand pile you turn the center pile over (face
down) and count whatever number his pile totaled and turn
8
the next card. In other words if there was 13 cards in each out-
side pile the thirteenth card of the center pile face up would
be the predicted card and if you turned the center pile face
downward the predicted card would be fourteen cards from
the top.
When spectator counts his cards have him turn cards face
up then you can watch and see that he doesn't mix up
the cards. s^^^
MIX—CUT AND LOOK
By Billy O'Connor
Many years ago when the author visited this country he
did this trick for me and was very much worried for some
I

time until he showed it to me.

Effect: Cards are given a true riffle shuffle once by
spectator. Then the cards are cut and the suit remembered of
card cut at. If the bottom card of his cut packet is a Spade and
the first card of that suit noted when he turns the deck over
is an Ace of Spades or any other card of that suit, that is the

card to be remembered as the selected card. Now the deck is

again shuffled and handed the performer for the first time,
who produces the looked at card in any way he sees fit.
Secret: The trick consists of a stack of two suits —
say
Spades and Hearts. Have them well mixed together. Out of
the 26 cards remove the King of Hearts and the Ace of Spades.
Now divide the 24 cards into two piles of twelve cards each
of assorted Spades and Hearts. On the face of each packet
place six cards Diamonds and Clubs, then turn the packets
face down and on top of them place six cards on one pile and
eight on the other, it makes no difference, or it can be seven
and seven cards. Now add both packets together by placing
either half on top of the other. This places twelve (12) cards
or fourteen cards, Diamonds and Clubs in the center of the
deck. Now place the Ace of Spades and the King of Hearts
third and fourth from the bottom of the deck and you are
ready to present the trick. Spectator is now asked to divide
cards and give them a riffle shuffle (just once) This will not
.

disturb your two key cards on the bottom of the deck, as all it
did was place more Diamonds and Clubs on the bottom if
they cut cards near the center. Now spectator is told to cut the
cards and remember the suit of the card he cut. (See that the

9
deck is cut somewhere near the center). Now spectator turns
the deck over (face toward him) and looks for the first card
of the suit he cut and remembers the card. This done the cards
are shuffled and handed to the performer, who studies a mo-
ment and says "y° u cut a cherry colored card, didn't you?, I
mean a black cherry, or was it a red cherry?" Once you find
out the color the trick is finished. For if it is a red color the
card must be the King of Hearts and if a black card, the card
is the Ace of Spades. Now produce the card in your favorite

way.
I usually have my deck set for this trick and when I am

called on I just pull out the deck and tell spectator to give
them a riffle shuffle and I am off to a flying start.

LOCATION FROM NEW DECK

By Arthur Buckley
This effect was given me by the author some time ago and
it has been used by me on some of the best gamblers in the

country. Any trick by this author is well worth more than the
price of this book.
Effect: Take a brand new deck right from the store open
itup and remove the joker and other advertising cards. Divide
the deck in two piles of twenty-six cards each. Have a spectator
select any card from the first pile and now ask second spectator
to select any card from the second pile. Both cards are looked
at by spectators and asked to remember their names. Now the
spectator places his card in the second spectator's pile
first
and the second spectator is asked to place his card in the
first Both cards are unknown to the performer.
spectator's pile.
Now ask that the two piles be shuffled together by a fair riffle
shuffle. Now another fair riffle shuffle and call attention to
the fairness of the two riffle shuffles. Now you glance thru the
deck and produce both selected cards.
Secret: When the cards are removed from the case they
allcome in suits in sequence and so when you have the two
cards removed from their decks the sequence is broken as far
as these cards are concerned. Now
the cards are placed in op-
posite packets and the deck given a riffle shuffle twice which
does not interfere with the original sequence. Now upon look-
ing thru the deck look for two cards out of sequence and these

10
will be the two selected cards. You will find that the suits are
mixed thru the deck but not the sequence of cards. It can be
possible for one of the two selected cards to be put back in
there regular sequence but very unlikely. The percentage is
about a hundred per cent in your favor.

YOUR NUMBER—YOUR CARD

By Paul Rosini
This effect was given me by the author after he had fooled
a crowd of magicians up in my room.
Effect: The deck is given to spectator to shuffle and then
the spectator is instructed to divide the deck into about three
equal piles. He is now told to select any one of the piles he
chooses. He is now to scan thru his selected pile and select one
card in his mind, then shuffle the pile so even he doesn't know
the location of his card. Now the other two piles are shuffled
together and cut in about equal halves so as the performer will
not have any idea of the location of any card in the deck. Now
the selected pile with the selected card is counted and the lo-
cation of the selected card is only known to the spectator. The
spectator takes his selected pile and places it in the center of
the larger pile, and the cards are given as many square cuts as
spectator desires. Now the performer takes the deck and pre-
sents the mentally selected card in any way he sees fit.
Secret: Once the chosen card has been shuffled in the
selected heap the performer asks spectator if he knows how
many cards he has in his heap. Of course he does not exactly.
So ask him to count his cards one at a time slowly while you
turn your back, and remember just how far down in pile his
card is. Count these cards face up on the table. Here the trick
hinges, you take a quick look at the first card laid down and
remember same as your key card. After you get a glimpse of
the card walk away and with your back turned to him. He
shuffles the other two piles and then cuts them and places his
pile in between them and squares the pack. As you come back
to the table say "maybe you had better cut them also, and
again please." The key card is all you need remember for this
trick. Say it was the Jack of Hearts. Now for the first time you
take the deck. Run thru the deck face up and locate your "key
card." (Jack of Hearts) and count five more cards on top of it

11
 (face up) and cut the deck at this point (the fifth card above
your key card). This will place the Jack of Hearts six cards
from the bottom of the deck. Meaning that the sixth card of
his selected packet is now on the bottom of the deck and the
seventh card on top of the deck. Ask spectator after you have
reviewed what has happened at what number his card ap-
peared when his pile was counted. The number is very im-
portant to you, because now you know the exact location of
his card in the deck. If the location happens to be six — it is

the bottom card of the deck. If it is seven it is on top of the deck.

If the number given is from "one to six" you must subtract
from bottom. In other words if the number was three —
then
the card is third from bottom. If seven or higher just count
from top of the deck to number. Say number was twelve —
just count cards seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve and that
will be the selected card. Now you can present the card any
way that suits your fancy. When I find his card was the seventh
card, I just say "you didn't reverse your card did you?" and
drop the deck on the table and there is the card face up on
top of the deck.
The basic principle of this trick can be made into a very
wonderful mental effect.

THIS IS YOUR CARD

By George Coon
This effect is probably one of the cutest effects for a lay
audience that can be pulled at a moments notice when you are
trying to figure out just what trick would hit the group best.
I have used it a great many times and probably just a bit dif-

ferent than my friend does. Anyway give it a trial, I am sure

you will like it.

Effect: The deck is passed to the spectator for a genuine

shuffle and he can shuffle as much as he pleases. Now upon
receiving the deck back in your hands, you ask spectator to
select any card and have it returned to the deck. This being
done you now instruct spectator to scan some cards you are
giving him and should his card be among the bunch of cards
he is to remove it and lay it face down on the table. If it is not,
he removes a card anyway and places it face down on the
table. He must not at any time let you know what his selected

12
card is. Since the procedure is done five times, I always hand
out ten or twelve cards for the spectator to scan. When the
deck has been completed you will have five cards on the table
in a pile 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd, and 1st in order; the 5th card on top
of the pile. You patter about not knowing his card and you
don't know the denomination, (but you do know the location
as I will explain). You now start spelling "t-h-i-s" and place
each card as you call the letters on the bottom of your five card
heap. When you come to the last letter which will be "s" you
place that card face down on the table and start with the next
word "i-s". You place "i" on bottom of your now four card heap
and "s" you throw on the table. Now you have three cards in
your heap and two on* the table. The next word you spell is
"y-o-u-r" and again you place a card at a time on the bottom
of your heap until you come to the letter "r" which you throw
on the table. Now you are down to two cards in your hand and
three cards on the table. The last word you spell is "c-a-r-d"
when you come to the last letter "d" you throw that card on
the table. You are now left with one card in your hand and you
ask the spectator to name his selected card and when he does
turn the card over in your hand and that is the one. "This Is
Your Card."
Secret: After the spectator selects a card be sure to have
him place back in the deck between 20 and 30 cards, any
it

place will do. You pass him the first ten cards, you know his
card is not among those nor is it among the second ten cards,
but it is among the third ten cards, and you just carry on for
another twenty cards, ten cards at a time. Now your pile of
five cards on the table should be two indifferent cards and
then the selected card and then two more indifferent cards and
with this set up you start spelling "This Is Your Card", and the
remaining card in your hand is the selected card. If you can
false shuffle a deck it might add just a bit more mystery to
the effect.

MONEY ON THE LINE

By George Foster
Here is an old trick with a cute bit of misdirection I think
you will like.
Effect: Take an ace and place same on top of deck and
13
then on the bottom of the deck place the other three aces. This
is your "four ace stack". Hand deck to a spectator and ask "that

he count down as far as he likes and stop." Now he is told to

put a coin on top of his pile, a penny if he has one. The second
spectator is told to do the same thing and place a nickel on his
pile. The third spectator is told to do the same and- place a dime
on his pile. The fourth spectator does likewise and places a
quarter on his pile. Now we have a total of four piles and forty
one cents on the line and with these cards you should win the
pot. Now turn over each pile and here we have the four aces.

Secret: The stack tells the story. The first ace is already
on top so when spectator counts his cards on the table his ace
is on the bottom .of his pile. Now when you take cards back

and ask spectator "to place a penny on his pile." While he is

locating the penny you have plenty of time to bring another
ace to the top. Which you do. This same procedure is carried
out while spectators are looking for their coins to place on
top of pile. You always hold the deck while they are look-
ing for their coins which gives you plenty of time to bring an
ace from the bottom to the top of the deck. I usually ask spec-
tators if they should choose an ace what one would they
choose and when they turn over their pile there is the ace.
Just remember your location of three aces on the bottom and
get the favorite ace of number one spectator on top of deck.

DO IT FOR ME
By Gene Bernstein
This is an effect that Gene Bernstein showed me and it
struck me as having quite a bit of mystery to it and I liked
it so well I prevailed on Gene to give it to me for the book.

So here it is.

Effect: A deck of cards is cut, spectator holding one half

and performer the other half of the deck. The performer asks
spectator to do as he does. Performer removes a card from
his packet and writes his initials on it and asks the spectator to
do likewise. Now the cards have been initialed they are put on
the top of their packet and the packets are cut which now
places the initialed cards somewhere near the center of their
respective packets. The cards are now spread fan wise face
down on the table and spectator draws one card from per-
14
formers half and places same in his packet. Performer selecting
a card from spectators packet and places same in his packet
without looking at same. Now the spectator and performer
each shuffles his packet. Now the packets are spread face up-
wards and the initialed cards are removed and placed before
each other on the table and upon doing this both spectator and
performer find they have removed the cards initialed by each
other at the start of the trick.

Secret: Of course you know this would be almost im-

possible feat if there was not some key to the situation. So

here is the key to the situation. You pencil mark a card with a
dot on the border that you can recognize at a moments notice
and you place that card about five cards down in the deck
counting from the top. This is your key card for sighting. Now
sometime before you start this trick steal a card from the deck
and put your initials on it. This card you place two cards above
key card. Now the next move is to have spectator and per-
former draw a card at random from deck and put his initials
on it. The spectator does this but the performer just goes thru
the motions of writing his initials on his card as he already has
an initialed card planted in spectators packet. Now both cards
are placed on top of their packets and the cards are cut into the
center of the packet and the packets squared up so as they are
lost sight of. Let us say that the performers initialed card pre-
viously marked is 10 of Hearts and the spectators card initialed
was the King of Spades. Now the cards are spread fan wise
face downward on the table and a card withdrawn from each
packet and placed from one packet to the other without look-
ing at same. The spectator draws a card from performers
packet at random but the performer must use his key card at
this moment. When the trick started the key card was five
cards down in the deck now when the spectator placed his
initialed card on top of packet that brought his card five cards
above the key card. So all performer does is count the fifth
card above the key card and removes same which is spectators
King of Spades, places same in his packet and gives his packet
a riffle shuffle and asks the spectator to do likewise. Now the
performer asks that the initialed cards be removed from the
deck, and performer says, "my card was the 10 of Hearts, what
was yours?" Both cards are laid upon the table and there they
are identified by their initials.

15
 .

At the start of the trick ask spectator to cut off about half
of the deck and you allow him to keep his half for the reason
allyour key cards are planted there. This is a good trick and
can be built up to look like a real miracle. Give it some time.

MATHEMATICAL MARVEL
By Arden Morris
This is an effect that was shown me by my friend Arden
Morris who obtained the idea from a mathematical student
back east. I am sure you will like the effect.
Effect: The usual procedure is for the performer to ask
the spectator to select a card. In this instance it is reversed,
and the spectator asks the performer to select a card. This the
performer does, and after doing so replaces his card in the
deck, asks for pencil and paper and writes the name of a card
upon the paper which he now gives the spectator to hold for
later identification. Now the spectator is asked to mention any
number between one and twenty-six —
suppose he mentions
"seventeen." He is then to count off the top of the deck 17
cards and turn over the 18th card for the performer to see.
Performer upon seeing it says "I am sorry that is not the card."
The 18th card remains on top of the deck now spectator re-
places his 17 cards on top of the deck and the performer says
"Well, if it wasn't in the upper half of the deck maybe it will
be in the lower half of the deck so give me a number between
26 and 52 cards. Suppose the spectator says "33". Now the
spectator counts off 33 cards into a pile and again shows the
performer the 34th card (which remains on top of the deck)
The performer again says "I am sorry that is not my card."
The 33 cards are placed back on top of the deck and the per-
former patters about it should work and then says "17 from 33
is how many?" and the spectator says "16". Count off 16 cards
and look at the 17th card that remains on top of the deck and
there he finds the predicted card. The paper is unfolded and
there is the name of the card.
Secret: Having the performer draw a card is all horse
play. What the performer does is draw a card, and while spec-
tator finds his pencil, the performer glances at the top card of
deck say "Jack of Hearts" and writes that on the piece of paper
which he gives the spectator to hold and now the numbers
16
between one and 26 is just reversing a number of cards, and
then have him look at card on top of deck (not at the number
he selected) Now get a number in the lower half of deck be-
.

tween 26 and 52 and again look at the top card of deck (not the
number spectator mentioned) Now subtract the lower number
.

from the higher number and count that many cards off the
deck and turn the next card over and that is the predicted card.
This trick really goes over in a crowd of business people, try
it and see for yourself.

NUMBER TRANSPOSITION
By Ed Marlo
Here is an effect that the author gave me from his wonder-
fulbook called "Deck Deception", and I promise you when
you present one of Eddie's effects you really have something.
A very old effect is one in which a card is displaced from
one to another number. There have been several methods of
accomplishing this effect. One is a mathematical angle, another
was to face the pack, and still another depended on a sleight.
The method in this trick is so simple it is a wonder no one ever
thought of it before.
Briefly the effect is that one person thinks of a number
between one and twenty-five. He counts down to that number
in a pack of cards, notes and remembers the card at that
number. A second person is asked to name any number be-
tween one and twenty-five.
The performer states he will transpose the selected card
from the number the first person "thought of" to the number
selected by the second person.
Secret: Performer succeeds in doing this by placing the
deck behind his back or — a much preferable method —
under
the table. You do not know the first person's number. How-
ever, the second person names his. Let us say he named ten.
All you do is transfer that many cards from the bottom of
deck to the top. The effect will now work automatically.
Ask the first person to name number he thought of. Let
us say he said five. All you do is count off five cards on to the
table. Turn over the fifth card and show it is not the selected
Leave this card face up on the table. Drop the pack on top of
17
the four cards counted off. Ask again the second person's
number as if you had forgotten it. Start the count at one, and
when you reach the tenth card — or whatever number spec-
tator selected — turn over this card ai that number and it will
be the chosen card.
Note: In the above you will note several deviations from
the old methods of handling. In one method the spectator had
a choice of numbers from one to fifteen while the second per-
son had a choice of numbers from fifteen to thirty. In the
author's method both spectators have the same range of num-
bers to choose from. Also, in counting down the second num-
ber we start counting at number one, whereas the old method
started the count at the last number of first person's choice.
Another advantage is that the cards counted off in the first
number need not be replaced on top of the deck. Finally, the
effect can work from a high to a low number as well as from
a low number to a high number.

DE LUXE SPELLING TRICK

This effect may be old to some of you, but I think it will
find favor among most of my readers.
Effect:Spectator is asked to think of any number of cards
from one Let us say the spectator decides on eight. He
to ten.
then places that many cards (8 cards) in a pile on the table.
He is asked to shuffle the remaining cards again and make
another pile of the same number of cards as the first which —
was eight.

Now the spectator may reshuffle the cards again and re-
move from the remaining deck. He notes this card and
a card
places it back on the top of the deck. Then he is asked to select
either one of his eight-card piles and shuffle same and place
on top of the selected card on the deck. Performer then asks
spectator to give some name
or sentence which performer
"John Brown choose this card" or "This is
spells out: such as,
your selected card" or any group of words he may select.
Now pick up the other eight card pile and go through this
same spelling againand turn over the card representing last
letter which will be the selected card.
Secret: You must have a name or series of words that
18
total more letters than the number of cards in spectator's pile
— in this instance eight letters. Now when
you get the name,
or the sentence, you are to put the cards in back of you or
hold under the table out of sight of spectator and spell the
name, or sentence. This reverses the cards in their order from
the top of the deck.
This done bring the cards into view again, and add the
other eight cards to your deck by placing them on top of deck.
Ask that the name or sentence be repeated, and again spell
cards one letter at a time. The last letter of the name, or
sentence will be the selected card. A false shuffle will help
a lot butis not necessary.

IMPROVED JACK-JACK-JACK
In my last three books I have used this trick, but do not
care for the idea of scooping up your cards, when this is un-
necessary. Then again, I find the trick exposed by dealing out
two red Jacks at one time and two black Jacks the next time.
This can be avoided.
Effect: Place three Jacks on top of the deck. Then an
indifferent card and the other Jack. For instance, start off
with Jack of Diamonds, Jack of Spades, Jack of Hearts, the
indifferent card and Jack of Clubs. Then make some remark
about someone showing you this trick and it dawned on you
that he was dealing a second card; that you liked the trick so
well you practiced hours on it and then you have just arrived
at the perfect point. Ask Spectator what he thinks of it and
demonstrate the effect for him. You deal one card to spectator
(Jack of Diamonds) then one to yourself (Jack of Spades) and
another to Spectator (Jack of Hearts) and one to yourself (the
indifferent card), then one to Spectator (Jack of Clubs. Here
is where the trick changes from the old pattern. You pick up

your two cards and place them on top of the deck (not bother-
ing to deal yourself a third card) You will find you have,
.

when the cards are turned face up on the table, one black Jack
on the bottom of the heap and two red Jacks on top of the
heap, providing you are using the Jack of Diamonds, Jack of
Spades and Jack of Hearts. Pick up one of the red Jacks and
scoop up the three Jacks remaining, which gives you a red
Jack on top, black Jack in the middle and another red Jack.
19
Just keep this routine and you will always have two red Jacks
and one black Jack in Spectator's hand. This makes the trick
almost fool proof and it can be repeated a great many times.

AN OLD TRICK IN A NEW DRESS

By Eric Peterson

Have a borrowed deck thoroughly shuffled, then have ten

persons or less, each select two cards (each person to re-
member his chosen cards, or better have each person
still,

write names of his selected cards on a piece of paper, so he

won't forget). Now gather cards, or have an assistant gather
them, being sure to keep them in pairs. Cards need not be
gathered in order taken but must be kept in pairs originally
selected. Always use 20 cards even if less than ten persons
select them.
N A M '
E N
12 3 4 5

M U T U S
6 7 8 9 10

K A K I S
11 12 13 14 15

D E D I T
16 17 18 19 20

After cards are returned to performer, hold face down in

left hand and lay them down on table as instructed below:
First row —
take top card and place face up in position 1 as
shown above, now take 2nd card from top and place in position
2, 3rd card from top in position 3, 4th card in position 4, 1st in

position 5. Second row —

2nd card at 6, 3rd card at 7, 4th card
at 8, 3rd card at 9, 4th card at 10. Third row 5th card at 11,—
1stcard at 12, 4th card at 13, 4th at 14, 3rd at 15. Fourth row—
4th card at 16, 1st at 17, 3rd at 18, 2nd at 19 and 1st 20.
Now ask each person which row or rows their cards appear
in (reading horizontally) and identify them by letters as
shown above, each pair appearing on letters to match. For
example; if one persons cards both appear in first row, the
cards would be the 1st and 5th represented by the letter "N",
if another person would say his cards appear in first and last

20
row the cards would be the 4th in the first row and 2nd in
last row represented by letter "E" etc. You will notice there
are only two letters of each in the words "NAMEN, MUTUS,
KAKIS and DEDIT" shown above and selected cards are al-
ways located by these letters. You will find this effect well
worth the short time it will take to master it.
Example: Lay cards down on table as instructed and
ask person what row or rows his cards are in, and if he says
they are both in the first row you know they must be in posi-
tion "1" and position "5", represented by letter "N"; if another
person says his cards are in the second and fourth rows, you
know they are in position "8" and position "20", represented
by letter "T", etc. ^^
WHILE I TURN MY BACK
By Paul Rosini
This is the trick that was shown to me twenty years ago
by Paul Rosini. It has been one of the many jewels in card
work and brings forth many requests to "do that again!". I
remember when doing it for my friend the late Bill Hilliard,
he liked it buy the effect from me. I also
so well he offered to
showed it to my Gene Bernstein and Jimmy Thompson
friends
at the latter's home. They made me do it over again to make
sure it was as I represented it to be. It fooled Gene and Jimmy
and when a trick will do that it is some trick, since they know
their pasteboards. Hilliard later used this trick.
Effect: The deck is shuffled by spectator. Spectator is now
asked to think of any number and count down in the deck to
that number and remember the card in that position. Perform-
er turns his back or leaves the room while this is being done.
When spectator has located a card at a certain number down
in the deck, he squares the deck up and calls the performer.
The performer now removes a card from the deck saying "you
might not believe it but I think this is your card".With that
performer tells spectator to deal the cards out one at a time
face up on the table in neat pile and should his card be there
not to stop dealing but go right on past it. When he has passed
the card or gone through the deck he is to again shuffle the
deck and square same up and call performer. Now the per-
former picks up the deck, scans same and lays a card on the
table, which is the chosen card.

21
 Secret: The removing of the card which the performer
does is for the purpose of having the spectator go through the
cards for the second time. In explaining how you want the
cards dealt face up on the table, turn the first card face up
on the table and then, as if you had made a mistake, say "Oh!
I didn't mean to do that" and put the card back on top of deck

and cut the cards completing the cut (the author usually cuts
down about two-thirds of deck, so as he will put about fifteen
or twenty cards on the exposed top card of deck) Let us say .

the exposed card is the King of Clubs. Now performer walks

away or leaves room or looks out of window. He estimates the
approximate time it takes spectator to deal the added cards
on top of your key card (King of Clubs) onto table. When he
senses the number of cards are about dealt on the key card,
he asks "Have you come to your card yet"? "No". "Then go on
dealing". As spectator begins to deal again, he asks suddenly,
"What was the number you thought of?" Suppose the answer
is "ten". He says, "Go on dealing, see if your card is in the

deck". He now watches for the key card and when he sees it
fall, he counts until the tenth card is turned up. Suppose it is

the Ace of Spades, then he turns away, directing the spectator

to keep on dealing. When the deal is finished, he says, "Is your
card still in the pack?" "Yes". That's funny, I thought I had
your card here in my pocket. Please shuffle the cards again.
Performer now takes the deck and reveals the name of
card as dramatically as possible. Reversing it or laying it on
table. This trick can be mastered in a very short time and
should be your masterpiece.

TRIPLE DIVINATION
By Clarke C. Crandall
The top 24 cards are pre-arranged. I put this first in case
you shun this type of trick. If so, you can stop reading now and
pass on to the next effect. However, should you care to exert
a little time and a small amount of mental effort towards an
effect that is more than just a puzzle, you'll do well to read
further.
Now for the effects. I give three, but any one may be given

separately. I use all three as a very effective routine.

22
 Effect No. 1: The spectator is given a deck of cards and
asked to deal four hands of six cards each, face down, on the
table. The magicians back is turned. This done, he is asked to
pick up any of the four hands, mentally select any card of the
six and lay the hand back in place. The magician asks him to
pick up the first pile of cards. He is asked if he sees any card of
the same value as his noted card. He is to answer only "yes"
or "no". He continues thru the four hands. The magician now
turns, touches one card, draws it out apart from the rest and
asks "What was your mentally selected card?" When the spec-
tator answers, the magician turns over the card. It is the specta-
tor's card.

Effect No. 2: The magician picks up the cards, places

them on the balance of the deck and deals, left to right, six piles
of four cards each and places the balance of the deck beside
the sixth pile. Turning his back he asks the spectator to peek
at any card in any of the six piles or look at one in the balance
of the deck if he wishes. This done the magician picks up the
cards and deals four hands, left to right, of six cards each. He
asks the same two questions as in Effect No. 1 and when all
four hands are glanced thru the magician picks up all the cards,
together with the balance of the deck and draws a card partly
from the deck. Holding it, the back towards the spectator, he
asks him to name his peeked at card. The magician turns the
deck around. The protruding card is the spectator's card.
Effect No.3: The magician gathers up all the cards and
now asks the spectator to think of any card at all. He may
change his mind as often as he likes, but decide on one card and
remember it. The magician takes off six cards, fans them be-
fore the spectator and asks the "value" and "suit" questions as
before. He
does this with three more sets of six cards. The ma-
gician is now
able to concentrate (?) and announce the
"thought of card" as dramatically as he is able.
Now the method and explanation. The cards are ar-
ranged, face up, one on the other, as follows:
JS - IOC - 5H - KS - 7H - JD - KC - 9H - 3D -7S - 7D - 8C
5D - 2C - 4C - 10S - 9S - 6D - 6H - JH - KH - 3S - QD - QC.
If you can false shuffle and false cut so much the better. It
adds to the effect, but it is not necessary to the success of the
trick.
Placing the above group of cards face down on the balance
23
of the deck, four hands are dealt, left to right. The cards in the
first hand are as follows:
KH - 9S - 5D - 3D - 7H - JS
—This group has a value of 1 and no CLUBS
Second Hand:
3S - 6D - 2C - 7S - JD - IOC
—This group has a value of 2 and no HEARTS
Third Hand:
QD - 6H - 4C - 7D - KC - 5H
—This group has a value of 4 and no SPADES
Fourth Hand:
QC - JH 10S - 8C - 9H - KS
-

— This group has a value of 8 and no DIAMONDS

Each time the spectator says he sees a card of the same
value of his selected card, mentally note and add the value of
that hand. Thus if the answer is "yes" on the first two hands
and "no" on the third and fourth hands the card is a "three".
If he should answer "yes" on the first, third and fourth hands
the card is a king, as that is the thirteenth card. If the answer
is no on all four hands the card is an ace as there are no aces

among the twenty-four cards.

When the spectator says "No, I do not see the suit of my
card, mentally note the number of that hand. If it is the first

hand the card is a Club, the second a Heart, the third a Spade
and the fourth a Diamond. All that needs to be memorized is
CHSD (chased) 1-2-4-8.
Now to explain the effects. In Effect No. 1 the cards are
dealt and the magician proceeds according to instruction, but
he has a small card in his vest or watch pocket with the cards
of the four hands written on it as shown above. When he knows
the card he glances at the card list and now knows the place in
the hand of the selected card and can touch the very card
looked at. This is quite effective.
To prepare 2, the cards are picked up right
for Effect No.
to left, the fourth hand on the third, those two on the second
and all three on the first. The cards are now dealt into six piles.
These cards are picked up left to right, the first on the second,
etc. and dealt as in Effect No. 1. The cards are glanced thru by
the spectator and picked up by the magician again left to right
and are now in order for Effect No. 3. Any of the three effects
are very striking when properly presented.
24
 CARDS AND PELLETS
By Stewart Judah
Some years ago I introduced a pellet trick before the Cin-
cinnati magicians, when George Stock was their President.
Years later my good friend Stewart Judah recalled the trick
and asked me how I liked his pellet trick, which he worked
for me. I thought it one of the best tricks I ever watched. He
later published it in his book called "Subtle Problems You
Will Do" (which, by the way, is a very wonderful book).
I am offering you the effect as Stewart Judah published

it with just a slight change from the way he published it.

The deck is passed out to some spectator and asked to
He is then to select a card which he is asked to re-
be shuffled.
member. He retains this card until called for. Now seven other
people, or any person, select seven more cards and lay them
face up, on the table with spectator's card. Performer then
takes a small pad, or eight pieces of paper and a pencil,
pen or crayon. The names of the eight cards on the
table are now called off in order from left to right, per-
former writing the name or initials of each card called upon
a separate slip or piece of paper, placing said slip of paper face
down on the table. Performer explains what he is doing by
showing what he is writing —
using large letters. For example,
the first card is the "Seven of Hearts". On the paper the per-
former writes "7 of H" in large letters, and places it face down
on the table.
After you have completed writing the eight cards on the
put the slips aside, or under some article close
slips of paper,
by which will keep them in the rotation in which they were
called.

Then ask the spectator to gather the cards, remove his

card and place the same in his coat pocket, or, as Mr. Judah
does, use an envelope, sealing the card in same. You now return
to your eight slips of paper, deal them face down into two
heaps, a piece of paper at a time, dealing from left to right.
Spectator is to choose either heap —
performer explaining that
the heap he chooses will be destroyed. If, for instance, he
points to the left hand heap, performer destroys that heap.
Deal the remaining slips into two piles left to right and again
destroy the left hand heap. Performer finally has only two slips

25
left, one placed at his left and the other at his right. The
is

left hand destroyed, and the slip remaining at his right

slip is
carries the initials of the card, which card the spectator has in
his pocket, or in the envelope!
Secret: The shuffling, dealing and writing of cards in-
itials is all fair —
except one little deviation into chicanery.
The key card to your trick is the third card in the row of eight
cards laid down —
the third card is the card the spectator will
later put in his pocket, or in the envelope.
When writing the initials of cards on the slips of paper, do
so boldly, showing the slips as the spectator or spectators call
the cards off one at a time. Show the first five slips slowly, but
when you write the sixth card's initials, just neglect to show
that slip to the spectators, since on the sixth slip you do not
write the initials of the card the spectator is calling, but write
instead the initials of your "force card", being the third card
laid down. The last two slips, seventh and eighth, can be shown
honestly, as the first five were. After writing the slip place it
on the table, or under a pad. The next slip goes under the slip
just placed on the table. When you have finished writing all
the slips, they are in the same order as the cards in the row
on the table, except that the third and sixth slips carry the
same initial.
all one is obliged to watch for is
In performing this trick,
the card you are using for your "Force Card". I usually do
this by asking for each card and placing the same on the table
myself until the third card is laid down, after which it makes
little difference as to procedure.

"REVERSO"
Contributed (but not invented) by "Dorny"
is performed with an ordinary deck
This alleged miracle
of cards. No hand is necessary either. Just a lot of
sleight of
assurance, a bit of misdirection and a good line of conversation.
We start at the beginning. A deck is thrust upon the un-
suspecting victim with the very original request of "TAKE
A CARD." After the card has been snatched, ask spectator, or
reasonable facsimile thereof, to look at it and remember it.
Now with your best smile ask him to replace the card into the
deck. Performer then steps a few feet away from the audience
(so he will be close to an exit) and starts taking the cards off

26
the top of the deck, dropping them one at a time upon the floor.
All the cards fall BACK UP except the selected card which
"Mirable Dictu" falls FACE UP. Allowing enough time for
applause to subside you "carry on" with your next effect.
Secret: Just before you slide into this "brain buster,"
you reverse the bottom card of the deck. Fan the cards before
the spectator, asking him to remove and remember one of
them. While this is being done, you surreptitiously turn the
deck over in your hand. The bottom (reversed card) is now
on top.) Ask spectator to replace card into the deck. Do not
fan the deck. Hold it at the end and let the card be inserted in
that manner. As you step back to perform the trick, you again
reverse the deck. Now take the first card between the thumb
and index finger, so that you are holding the card exactly in
the middle. Releasing the thumb and finger at the same time,
the card will fall gracefully to the floor, face down. With
practice, this can be done very fast. Keep on dropping the cards
in this manner almost all the way thru the deck, or perhaps a
few cards after the selected card falls FACE UP on account
of being reversed in the deck. It is a peculiar piece of psychol-
ogy that the audience keep their eyes on the floor as the cards
fall and the effect appears that the card mysteriously reverses
itself while falling. This is really a swell trick and is well
worth the practice required.

DUCY-DUCY
By Dai Vernon
Here is a trick that uses a sleight, but not a hard one to
master. It is an effect that is well worth putting a small

amount of time in to master it.

Effect: Two deuces are placed face up on the table (either

pair, red or black, it makes no difference). Have the deck
shuffled and a card selected by the spectator, noted, and
placed face downward on the table. Place the selected card
between the two face up deuces and call attention to the fact
you do not know the spectator's card placed between the
two face-up deuces on the table, but that you do want the
spectator to remember the card you are going to select. Take
the deck, lift off the two top cards as one an call attention to
it, say 'eight of spades'. (If you don't like the idea of the double

27
lift,then use a duplicate of 'eight of spades' and just lay same
face up on the table) You proceed by stating "I am going to
.

place this eight of spades in my pocket" and proceed to do so,

showing same after it is placed in the pocket. Pick up the
packet of cards containing the two face-up deuces and spec-
tator's selected card between, place same on top of the deck.
Spread the cards to show the deuces face up, while the selected
card is still between them, face down. In closing-up the fan of
cards, get the little finger under the fourth card. This is the
eight of spades which the spectator thinks is in your pocket.
Lift off all four cards, giving the impression you are only re-
moving three —
the two deuces and the spectator's selected
card and to convince them, call attention to the first face-up
deuce, turn it face down, and place on the bottom of your four
card packet. The next card (spectator's card) is transferred to
the bottom as it is, face down and the remaining deuce is then
turned face down and place on the bottom of the four card
packet.

You now repeat what has been done by calling attention

thereto without showing the cards, as you do you say "a deuce,
your card and a deuce". This last move accomplished another
purpose. It placed the eight of spades where you want it. Place
the packet back on top of the deck, turn the top card of the
deck face up and it will be a deuce. Deal the second card as it
is, face down, and place on top of face up deuce. Now turn over

the third card, it will be a deuce, and place this on top of the
face down card. You now have two deuces face up and
one card face down between them. To the spectator every-
thing is as it was at the beginning of the trick. However, the
selected card is now on top of the deck and the eight of spades
is between the deuces. You say to 'the spectator, "do you re-
member the card you saw me place in my pocket?" and when
he answers "yes, the eight of spades"" you ask "now would you
mind telling me the name of your card" and he replies "king
of hearts" (or whatever his card might be). You then say,
that is funny —
you were not paying attention, please turn
over the card between the deuces" and while he is turning over
the card (which is the eight of spades) just palm off the top
card of the deck (the king of hearts) and put your hand in your
pocket, bring it back out with the spectator's selected card and
lay it on the table, face up.

28
 Suggestion: If you are going to make a double lift, on top
your deck have a seven spot as top card and the eight spot as
second from the top. When you show spectator the card in your
pocket just show him half of it —
the five pips and let your
thumb cover the index. Done quickly it will convince the
spectator that it really is the eight spot.
Should you use a duplicate eight spot, it adds just a bit
more to the trick and a sleight is avoided. I think the latter
method is most effective.
Should you desire you can show pocket empty at conclu-
sion of trick by placing your eight spot in the upper part of
trouser pocket and pulling out the lower part of pocket.

NUMBER TRICK
This trick can be performed anywhere, on stage, on night
club floor or at a close up party for a few. It can really be made
to look like a wonderful trick.

Effect: Performer asks that deck be well shuffled and

passes same some spectator. Performer now asks for a paper
to
and pencil, or produces same from his pocket, and requests the
spectator to think of a number between "one and ten" and to
look at the card in that position in the deck. Performer now re-
quests a second spectator to assist in this effect. The second
spectator is asked to think of a number between "ten and

twenty" and remember the card at the location he thought of

in the deck. Performer passes two pieces of paper to spectators
and requests spectators to write the names of the card located
at the number thought of. For instance, the first spectator
thought of the number 6 and his card was the ten of spades.
The second spectator thought of number 14 and his card was
King of Hearts. Thus, we have the 6th card down in the deck
the ten of spades and the 14th card down the King of Hearts.
Spectators are requested to fold up their paper and lay same
on the table. Performer then asks the first spectator to remove
the 6th card down in the deck and place that card beside the
paper he has just written on. The second spectator is requested
to count down to his selected number, starting from where
the first spectator left off. That is, the first spectator stopped at
the 6th card, the second spectator starts counting on the 7th and
when he arrives at 14 should lay that card beside his paper with
29
the name of the card written thereon. Performer then asks
spectators to read what they have written on their paper, and
finds the names on the paper are different than the cards placed
on the table. Performer then remarks "How could they be on
the table" and produces same from pocket, or flips the deck on
to the table, holding the two selected cards at his finger tips.
Secret: While the spectators are writing the names of
their cards on the paper, just remove the bottom card and place
same on top of the deck. Spectator's cards are now 7th and
15th cards down in the deck. The next move is very important.
Count off or have spectator count off five cards and place them
in a pile on the table. The 6th card is laid beside his paper.
The deck is placed on top of the 5 card pile on the table and
handed to the second spectator for his count. The first card he
lays on the table is the first spectator's selected card, and six
more cards are placed on top of that card, while the 8th card
is place beside the second spectator's paper. The deck is placed

on top of the 7 card pile, which now puts the first spectator's
card on bottom of deck and the second spectator's card on top
of deck. By holding the deck between the thumb and fore
finger, the two top cards will stick to your fingers and you can
throw the remainder of the deck on the table, or, if you can
palm them, present them from the pocket. Try this one and
be surprised at the effect it has on your audience.

THE GREAT MELD MYSTERY FROM PINOCHLE

As Presented By Little Johnny Jones
The secret of this effect is old but little known. I do not
claim it as my own. But like most tricks it isn't the secret that
counts for most, it is the way in which it is presented. I person-
ally never cared very much for tricks that were obviously
mathematical, but on the other hand if you can do a mathe-
matical trick in such a way that it appears to be a miracle of
sleight of hand, then you have something.
In its original version this trick was called, "Kings and
Queens", I have renamed it "The Great Meld Mystery From
Pinochle" to give it glamor and a background for presenta-
tion possibilities. This is the way I present it: "Now I would
like to show my great Meld Mystery from Pinochle". (Pick
out the four kings and queens from deck. I usually do this by
30
dropping them onto the floor face-up as explained in Dorny's
trick elsewhere in this book). "In Pinochle a king and queen
of the same suit are known as a marriage or meld". Lay the
rest of the deck aside and pick up the cards from the floor, as
you do so arrange the king and queen of each suit together
and have all suits in sequence —
king, queen, king, queen, etc.,
without being obvious about it. "I have separated the colors
for the sake of contrast". Give them a quick but not hurried
flash so they may see that the colors have been alternated with-
out observing that they have ben arranged in sequence, for
you do not want them to even imagine that this is a mathe-
matical trick. "Now the object of this trick is to place the cards
behind my back, carry on a semi-intelligent conversation and
endeavor to pick out all of the kings in one hand and all of the
queens in the other. Now in this hand are the (whatever they
might be) kings, and over here are the queens". While the
cards are behind your back you must talk continually without
pause to avoid any suspicion of counting, which is exactly what
you are doing.
The Secret is to take every other card into the right hand
and they will all either be kings or queens. I neglected to tell
you that before you place the cards behind your back to begin
this mystery, that you should have several people each give the
cards a straight cut, which to the lay mind mixes them . . .

Now pick up the four kings and count them: one, two, three,
four, and do the same with the queens as this affords you the
opportunity to arrange the king pile and the queen pile in
sequence. If the king of spades is on the bottom of the king
pile, then the queen of spades must be on the bottom of the
queen pile etc. on through the suites. "Now we have the kings
altogether in this pile and the queens all together in this pile".
Place the two piles together and have them cut several times.
"Now I shall again place the cards behind my back, carry on
the same semi-intelligent conversation and endeavor to pick
out the kings and queens all paired up as they were in the be-
ginning. Here we have the king and queen of (whatever it is,
you name it as you reveal them) spades, and now we have the
king and queen of hearts, and now would you like the king and
queen of clubs or the king and queen of diamonds? Diamonds?
That's what I thought you would want so I kept the king and
queen of clubs for myself". In the above example you can
31
readily see that due to the color separation you can instantly
tell what suit will be in your right hand after two have al-
ready been produced. Therefore, they have a choice and you
can't lose.The secret of the second part of this trick is to count
down four cards and insert the index finger between the two
piles. Remove the top card from each pile and they- will always
be the king and queen of the same suit.
It is my
wish that you may derive the pleasure from this
trick thatI have over a period of many years, I have fooled

most top flight magicians with it and many gamblers. Only a

few times have I shown it to one who already new it.
May I suggest that you practice this effect until the count-
ing and separating of the cards behind your back becomes
automatic, then your conscious thought can be used for patter
and misdirection.

SPECTATOR'S NAME
By Martin Barnett
This is a spelling trick that its author has been carrying
around as one of his pets for quite some time. Once you use
it on a lay audience I am sure you will like it, as it is quick and

sure fire.

Effect: You ask remove any number of cards

spectator to
up to and including and place same in pocket. They
six cards
then count down the same number of cards in the deck as
the number of cards they removed from the deck and re-
member the denomination of the card at that position in the
deck. In other words, if they removed four cards and placed
same in their pocket, they would now look down four cards in
the deck and remember the fourth card.
Now the performer takes the deck for the first time and
asks spectator his full name, say it is "Rufus Steele". Perform-
er counts the letters in the name, which in this case is eleven
letters, and spells the name given. When he reaches the last
letter of the name he turns the card, and this is the card spec-
tator looked at when the trick was started.

Secret: When you have name, say it is an

spectator's
eleven letter name, reverse ten cards (one less than specta-
tor's name) on top of deck by shuffling them off into the left
hand one at a time. Replace these cards on top of deck and have
32
spectator return the cards he has placed in his pocket to top of
deck. Now go ahead and spell spectator's name and turn over
the last letter. This will be the spectator's selected card.
This is a good effect to start off an evening with when you
are asked to do some card tricks. It gets the name of some spec-
tator and is quite interesting from the layman's point of view.

MATHEMATICAL DISCOVERY
By Harry Blackstone
This trick my Harry Blackstone, gave me permis-
friend,
sion to use book "Modern Magic". The knowledge of
from his
this effect is not only valuable, but it is a life saver when you
are in some spot where you must locate the card which you
do not know.
Effect: A spectator has chosen a card. Tell him to re-
member its numerical value (Ace, one; Jack, eleven; Queen,
twelve; King, thirteen) also the suit of the card. Tell him to
double the value of the card. Then tell him to add three to the
total. Then tell him to multiply the complete total by five.

This done, ask him to concentrate on the suit. If the card

is a diamond, he must add one. If it is a club, he must add two.
If it is a heart, he must add three. If it is a spade, he must add
four. He must then tell you the final total. From it you im-
mediately divine the name of the selected card.
Secret: Subtract fifteen from final total. You will have a
number of two figures —possibly three. The last figure gives
you the suit (Diamonds, 1; Clubs, 2; Hearts, 3; Spades, 4)
while the first figure or figures gives you the value.
Example: Jack of Clubs. Eleven doubled is 22. Add 3,
equals 25. Multiply by 5 equals 125. Add 2 (for Clubs) making
total of 127. You are told the number. Subtract 15 mentally.
Result 112. Last figure (2) means Clubs. First figure (11)
means Jack.
With the Five of Hearts. Five doubled is 10. Add 3 equals
13. Multiply by 5 equals 65. Add 3 (for Hearts) making 68.
You are told that number. Subtract 15 mentally. Result 53.
Last figure (3) means Hearts. First figure (5) means Five spot.
This is a very effective routine and is particularly valuable
when a troublesome spectator takes a card and makes it im-
33
possible for you to go ahead with the trick as you had intended.
Remember that spectator performs all his calculations
without telling you a word about the card itself. He can do it
mentally or on paper. All you ask is for the total. The total
does not appear to give you any clue to the card, because no
one knows your secret system of deducting 15.
I usually do this effect by saying, "Think of a card" and

then have spectator go through the above routine. After get-

ting total number I present the deck and either turn over the
thought of card or force same on the spectator.

THAT NUMBER DOWN

By Doc Miller
Some time back when Doc Miller was visiting at the
Round Table here in Chicago he did a little trick that im-
presed me at the time, and I asked permission to use same for
the book. Since that time my friend Eddie Mario took the trick
and put a new dress on it and fooled all the magis at the table
with same. I am going to present the trick as it was given to me.
Effect: The spectator is asked to select a card and have
same placed on top of deck and then the deck is given a square
cut with the cards face down. Now turn the deck face up and
have same cut again and again as suits your purpose. Now,
it

as the cut, the spectator makes suits your purpose, you say,
"That card tells me how far down in the deck your card is."
Now you turn the deck over and count down to the number of
the card on the bottom of the deck. Say the card on the bottom
of the deck was 7 of Spades — you count down seven cards
and turn over that card (7th card) and that will be the se-
lected card.
Secret: You stack thirteen cards of the same suit from
the King to the Ace of that suit on bottom of deck. Now when
the spectator selects a card he does so from any of the cards
above your 13 card stack and places same on top of deck. Now
give the deck a square cut. This will place the Ace of your 13
card stack next to the selected card, in other words, the first
card below your Ace in the 13 card stack. Now turn the deck
face up and ask to have it cut again. Say your 13 card stack
consisted of thirteen spades from the King down to the Ace.
Now when spectator cuts the deck face upwards, you are
34
 .

hoping he will cut into your 13 card stack, and when he does,
which he will eventually, you call attention to the spade he
cut. Say it was an eight spot. That will tell you his card is now
the eighth card down from the top of the deck, so turn deck
over and count off eight cards face down on the table, and the
eighth card is the spectator's selected card. Now pick up the
other seven cards and get them mixed up in the deck so spec-
tator won't notice the thirteen spade stack. Try this and then
get Eddie's improvement. I am sure you will like them both.

PHENOMENAL MEMORY
By Paul Stadelman
Here is an effect that was used by Jack Merlin a long time
ago only Jack used a marked card or crimped card for the
effect. In my opinion Mr. Stadelman has improved the effect
considerably by just using a "sight card" in one of his packets.
Effect: Performer fans deck of cards rapidly before his
eyes and claims that he has now memorized the entire deck of
52 cards. To prove his assertion he spreads the deck in two rows
on the table, face down, and asks someone to remove a card
from one row, look at it and place same in other row. Then
have a spectator hand performer the row from which selected
card was removed.
Performer glances rapidly through the packet of cards
handed him and after a moment's study says, "The card you
selected was removed from between the Jack of Diamonds and
the four of Spades".
Performer then picks up other part of deck and after look-
ing through it says, "The card you selected is now between the
King of Spades and 9 of Hearts, and the selected card is the
5 of Spades." (Or what ever the selected card happens to be)
The packet is then offered for inspection with the remark,
"Isn't that correct, Sir? (or Madam?).
Secret: As you fan the deck to "memorize" the cards note
the tenth card from the top of the deck. Place deck on table,
remove top half of deck and spread on the table face down
keeping your eye on the location of the tenth card which is
your "sight card". When spreading the cards fanwise on the
table let each one overlap the other and leave a slight in- jog or
out-jog at the tenth card —your "sight card". Be sure this is
35
 .

not enough of a jog to be noticeable but enough that you can

instantly locate this tenth card with a flash of the eye.
The lower half of the deck is now spread in the same
manner as the top half. Have spectator remove a card from this
lower half, look at it and place same in the top half of deck.
Watch them closely now as they put selected card in the top
half to see whether they place it above or below the tenth
card which is your known "sight card". Notice carefully how
many cards above or below the tenth card they place the se-
lected card, as the trick hinges on your knowing the exact
number of cards.
Ask spectator to square up both packets. Performer takes
the lower packet and calls attention to fact that the selected
card was between (name any two adjacent cards near position
from which card was removed, as no one knows whether you
are correct or not and it adds mystery to the effect)
Nowpick up the top row and say, "The selected card is
now between — (name the cards on each side of the selected
card) and the selected card is the
, —
(name the selected card) ."
This is not as hard as it sounds. There are only twenty or
twenty-five cards in the top row, and the tenth card is bound
to be near the center of the top row. You will find that when
the spectator places the selected card in the top row the aver-
age person will place it within three or four cards of the index
card as they think if they place it near either end it will be
easier to find. Sometimes they place it right in the jog, and
that makes it very wonderful for the effect.
Give this a trial. I am sure you will be delighted with the
result.
This effect was printed in a book by Stadelman in 1933, and
I have his permission to use the effect as he printed it.

YOU COULD HAVE SELECTED THAT ONE

By Frank Shepard
This trick is one of Frank's foolers. He uses it quite fre-
quently when he is called up to do close-up card work. It has
the wise ones guessing.
Effect: Performer lays six cards on the table face down-
ward in a row and then asks spectator to select a card from

36
the remaining part of the deck and show same to other spec-
tators. With this done spectator returns his card to the deck
and is asked to turn face up any of the six cards face down on
the table. Regardless of what card spectator turns face up that
card will tell the location of spectator's selected card in deck.
Secret: This trick consists of a slight set-up such as a
King, 5, 6, 5, 6 and an ace. When spectator has selected a card
and is showing same to other spectators, finger count off five
cards from top of deck and have spectator place his card on
top of deck as you lift off the five top cards as though you were
cutting the deck. (If you can false shuffle, do so.) When the
spectator turns over one of the center cards he is bound to
turn over a five or six spot. Should it be a five spot, count down
in the deck five cards and turn over the next card which is the
selected card. If spectator should turn over a six spot, that is
perfect, since his card is now the sixth card down.
When spectator has turned over a card, just turn over
two more cards for him and say, "You could have turned over
this King, or this five, or six." Then jump to the last card and
say, "or this Ace." Then throw the cards all in the center of the
table face down, and after you have produced spectator's se-
lected card place deck on the five card pile leaving the turned
up card on the table —
which later you return to deck and give
deck a shuffle. Don't worry. They seldom select the end cards,
and if you present the trick right, you may take my word, it
will fool them.

ALLERTON'S INDICATOR
By Bert Allerton
Here is one of Bert Allerton's pets and if you have ever
had the pleasure of watching him fool the boys with it you can
understand why it is a pet with a hundred percent accent.
Effect: The spectator is invited to select a card and re-
turn it you can false shuffle here it will add quite
to the deck. If
a bit to the effect butif you cannot a couple of square cuts will

help matters a lot. After the card has been returned to the deck,
the performer starts turning cards over one at a time in front
of him and after several cards have been turned over he asks
the spectator to stop him turning them over at any time he
likes. When the spectator says "now" he asks, "This card, or

37
the next." Upon receiving his reply he turns over the card and
the denomination of that card indicates how far down in the
deck the card is. For instance should the card be a 9 spot the
spectator's selected card will be nine cards further down in the
deck.
Secret: This trick is based on an arangement or set up.
You with a King (which will be 13) next an indifferent
start
card then a Jack (which will be 11) another indifferent card
and then a 9 spot —
then an indifferent card an then a 7 spot,
indifferent card and then a 5 spot, indifferent card and then a 3
spot, indifferent card and then an ace. This is the set up the
odd cards from 13 to Ace. These are placed on the bottom of
the deck in that order.
It is well to note several cards above your set up for the
reason you are about to ask the spectator "To stop me anytime
you like". Now should spectator stop you on one of your key
cards, you ask "this card, or the next". If he says your key card,
fine, and if he says the next card, you just say "and this next
card tells me how far down your selected card is", and turn
over the next card which is a key card, as every other card is
a key card. When spectator returns his card to the deck just
cut the deck down about half or a little better, and this brings
your stack up on top of his card. Now the trick is just about
over, all you watch for as you turn the cards face up on the
table one at a time is for one of your key cards.

I SHOULD JUDGE
This effect was used for a number of years to fool magi-
cians with.
Effect: The cards are cut and the card at bottom of cut
remembered. The deck is now squared and if you can false
shuffle it will help. The deck is now divided into five piles one
card at a time on each pile. Now spectator is asked to look
through the piles and find the pile his selected card is in. The
rest of the piles are discarded. The spectator is told to hold his
pile face down and deal one card at a time in a pile until told
to stop. When spectator goes through the pile the first time
offeran excuse "you laid them down too fast for me, do it once
more and do it slower". After several cards are laid on the
table and the spectator is about to lay another down say,

38
"Stop", and believe it or not the card he is now holding is the
selected card.

Secret: You must be able to judge within five cards of

the number of cards the spectator cut. Let us say he cut half
the deck (26 cards) and the card he looked at on the bottom
of his pile was the Jack of Spades. Replace cut on top, now
you have spectator make five piles, the first and second pile
will have eleven cards and the other three piles ten cards
in
each. If the spectator cut 26 cards his card must be in the first
pile, if he cut 27 it must be in the second pile and 28 cards in
the third pile. If it was in the last pile it would have to be five,
ten, fifteen, twenty or twenty-five cards. In this way you can
keep track of how many cards he cut. Now if you have guessed
his amount of cards correct or within five cards the trick must
work. The purpose of having him lay his cards down the first
time is the reversing of his pile. When he lays his cards down
the second time you start counting five, ten, fifteen, twenty,
twenty-five and now as he starts to lay the sixth card down
stop him for that is the selected card. For example let us say
you thought he cut off twenty-two cards. You start counting
five for each card he lays down and when your total reaches
twenty-five he is told to stop before he lays the card down, it
will be the selected card, the Jack of Spades. Should the card
be at an even twenty cards then you stop him when your total
reaches twenty. You can count one card at a time, in other
words if your total is twenty-five just stop him on the fifth
card. Remember that when he cuts the deck and notes the
bottom card of his cut, the cards are put back on top don't —
place them on bottom. As the cut is just for him to select some
card and the deck should now be in same shape as when he cut
the cards, you are figuring how many cards down from the top
his card really is.

The author does not reverse the count when doing this
trick. He allows spectator to count his pile and during the
count stops him on the selected card. For instance you esti-
mated the cut at 22 cards which would give you a key number
of five. Subtract five from the number of cards in pile: say
there was eleven cards in pile which contained spectator's
card —
five from eleven is six and turn over the next card (7th)
and that will be the chosen card. If the estimate was between
25 and 30, say 28 cards then subtract six from ten which gives

39
you four and turn over the next card. Remember you count
cards in series of five, 10 to 15 counts 3; 15 to 20 — 4; 20 to 25 —
5; 25 to 30 —
6; 30 to 35 —7.

PASSE SHUFFLE
By Bill Baird
up while in the armed forces and is
Bill built this trick
now using it back home.
to fool the boys
Effect: The deck is given a thorough shuffle by spectator
and then divided into three piles. The performer turns his
back on spectator while he chooses one of the three piles of
cards on the table, spectator shuffles that selected pile again and
selects any card he desires from that pile, placing it on top of his
selected pile. Spectator then reverses that pile, so the faces of
the cards are now upward and his selected card is also face
up, only on the bottom of the heap. He now places his face up
cards on either pile and the third pile then placed on his face
is

up cards. We now have two thirds of the deck face down and
one third face up. Spectator now gives the deck a riffle shuffle
(just one shuffle) and cuts the deck, then completes the cut.
Spectator hands performer the deck and performer finds spec-
tator's selected card.

Secret: Performer turns the deck over and upon looking

through the deck locates the largest number of face up cards.
Once this has been done you locate the first card face down-
ward after the largest number of face up cards and that is the
spectator's selected card.

THREE CARD LOCATION

Here is an effect my friend McDermott, owner of the
Richard Studio, showed me and I am sure you will like it al-
though it carries a small sleight.
Effect: The deck is shuffled and spectator has free choice
of any card which is returned to the deck and immediately
placed on the bottom of the deck in reverse position (this is
the only sleight). Say the card was the Nine of Hearts, you
now leave it reversed on bottom of deck. Cut off about a third
of your cards and hand them to second spectator with instruc-
tions that they be shuffled. Now another third is handed to

40
the third spectaor to be shuffled. Now ask spectators to select
a card from their packets and while they are doing that you
turn deck over in your hand so the first selected card (Nine of
Hearts) is on top of deck reversed. Now ask second spectator
to place his card in your part of deck. This he does. Now gives
you the balance of his packet which you reverse and place on
botton of your packet. The third spectator places his card in
your packet and then gives you the balance of his cards which
are reversed and placed on top of reverse card now on top of
deck. Now tap the deck and turn same over and here we find
the three selected cards reversed in the deck and all the rest
of the cards as they should be, face down.
Secret:The reverse card on the bottom is the key to the
situation as the othertwo cards when placed in the deck im-
mediately become reverse cards also. Now the balance of the
second spectator's cards are reversed and placed on the bot-
tom which keeps the deck as it should be with a reversed card
on top. Now third spectator places his card in deck face down
and the balance of cards reversed on top of deck. The deck
now upon being turned over has all the cards face down ex-
cept the three cards which are face up. All you must be
careful of is that the spectator does not get the idea that he
is placing his card in among other cards that are face up.

SIMPLICITY TRANSPOSITION
By Lt. Royal H. Brin, Jr., USN
Effect: The deck is shuffled by spectator and the per-
former turns his back during the rest of the proceedings. One
spectator is instructed to think of any odd number between
one and twenty-six; another spectator is requested to think
of any even number between one and twenty-six, so that the
two will be sure not to select the same number. The first spec-
tator takes the deck and counts off a number of cards equal to
the number he thought of. He hands the balance of the deck to
the second spectator who counts off a number of cards equal to
the number he thought of, and puts aside the rest of the deck.
The cards taken by the first spectator and those taken by the
second spectator are put together and shuffled by the first
spectator. He then spreads the cards in his hands, notes the
card at the number he thought of, then hands the cards to the
41
second spectator. The second spectator spreads the packet in
his hands, notes the card at the number he thought of, and
squares up the cards. Performer now turns around for the
first time, takes the packet and holds it behind his back. He
announces that although he does not know the number either
spectator thought of, nor the card either spectator looked at,
he will cause the two cards to change places. Thereupon he
brings the packet forward, requests spectators to call their
numbers and then shows that the first spectator's card is now
at the second spectator's number and the second spectator's
card is at the first spectator's number, and the cards have
truly been transposed in a magical fashion!
Method: This effect is similar to an older trick performed
with the names of famous persons written on the pages of a
loose-leaf note book. The application of the principle to playing
cards is original.
Everything is done fairly just as related above, up to the
point where the performer takes the packet of cards behind the
back. He then holds the bottom card and deals off the rest of the
cards onto the bottom card, reversing their order, as he patters
about the strange effect he is going to produce. Simple as it
sounds the two cards will now have changed places, and the
performer now brings the cards forward, demonstrating as
impressively as possible the mysterious transformation that
has taken place.

NAME YOUR CARDS

By Bo Bo
Some time ago at the Round Table in Chicago, Bo Bo was
there from Texarkana, Texas, and I asked him for a card effect,
and he gave me this clever little trick, and I am passing it on
for your approval.
Routine: Shuffle the cards and if you have 5 people or
more inyour gathering, have 6 piles of five cards each, one
pile in front of each person. Now pass the remaining cards to
a spectator and ask him to select two cards and, so as he won't
forget their names, he is to write their names on a piece of
paper for the time being. As he is writing their names you
gather up the piles, making sure the selected cards go one on
pile three and the other on pile six.

42
 When you have the cards in hand you say "y° u will pardon
me write a couple of names also" and you spread the cards
if I

in front of you, noting the eleventh and the twenty-seventh

card from face of packet as you fan them left to right, and
names of the 11th and 27th cards are placed in your pocket or
folded up on the table.
Now take the packet of cards and deal out one card at a
time, starting at your left and alternating. When the 32 cards
have been separated into two stacks, the left hand stack has the
spectator's selected cards and the right hand stack your cards.
Now spectator has a free choice of using his selected cards
or the performer's cards, whichever pair he desires will be
left on the table at the conclusion of the trick. Should he
select his cards, then discard the right hand stack and pick
up the left hand stack, and redeal cards as before. Discard the
right hand stack and redeal again and continue this redealing
and discarding the right hand pile until only two cards are
left in your left hand selected pile —
one on the table in the
left and on the right. These two cards are the cards that the
spectator wrote down —
but don't reveal same until he reads
their names from his paper.
whole thing from start
Call attention to the fairness of the
to finish. Should he ask your selection of cards
to use —
follow
the same course only discard the left hand pile each time. If
by chance he should say, "use my selected cards" and then
points to the pile that has your cards in it, tell him that the
cards he wrote on the paper will be left on the table and discard
the right hand stack until only two cards remain. He will not
notice the discarding of the lefthand heap or the right hand
heap. This trick was pulled on a lot of us at the Round Table
and caused quite some talk.

FIGURES DON'T LIE

This is not a trick but a little demonstration in order to
bring your audience's attention to a deck of cards. There are
many times you would like to get the audience's attention to a
deck of cards, but you have no real occasion to say "Oh, I want
to show you a trick". You bring this about as though you had
heard, or read about something and want their solution to the
demonstration.
43
 Effect: Count the deck of cards to see
if they are all

there. Then say "I want you count the cards in series of
to
piles, each pile consisting of a count of ten. For instance,
count all face cards at a value of ten and other spot cards at
their true value." As an example, should your first card be
a three spot, you would add seven more cards -to it, which
would give you a total of ten. Now, place those cards in a pile
with three on top of the pile face downward. When the full
deck has been counted in piles of ten, you might find you have
extra cards, but not enough to give you a total of ten, Just
lay them aside for a moment. While the spectator is making the
piles of ten I usually am away some place where I cannot see
what they are doing. When all the piles are counted and face
downward on the table, I am called back for the demonstration.
I request spectator to gather up all the piles and leave only

three piles face downward on the table. After they have

gathered all the piles together, pick them up and mention they
might add a few left over cards to the big pile, and give the
pile of cards to some spectator to shuffle. Performer now sits
down at the table and after a moment's deliberation, give
them the total of spots on the three remaining piles, that is, the
total of the three top cards of the piles left on the table.

Secret: Upon receiving the cards from spectator, count

nineteen cards. Then start counting the remaining number of
that number, and the cards you hold over nineteen will total
the spots on the three top cards of their three piles. For instance,
if you had in your pile a total of 26 cards, subtracting 19 cards

from that number, you would have a total of 7 for the three
top cards. I usually perform the trick, or rather, do the count-
ing under the table. I keep my cards out of sight, and the best
place is in your lap while sitting at the table.

YOU REMEMBER THIS ONE

By Bert Allerton
Here is an old timer the twenty-one card trick in new dress
and a real fooler.
Effect: You lay down three rows of six cards each and
ask spectator to concentrate on any one of the cards and re-
member the pile it is in. Now pick up that pile and place it on
top of other two piles and again start and run the cards one
44
at a time into three piles. Again ask what pile it is in. Upon
receiving his answer, pick up the three piles leaving one card
on the table and that usually is the selected card, if not you
have it right handy on the top of your packet.
Secret: When you down the three six card piles and
lay
spectator chooses one now
pick up the packet his card is in and
place the packet on top of the other two packets. So now you
deal the cards again into three piles. The first two cards in each
piles consists of the pile the spectator selected. So when he tells
you what pile it is in, it must be the first or second card in that
pile. Now proceed to pick up the cards leaving his pile until
the last. Now as you pick up the last pile, just pick up five cards
leaving the first card there and watch the expression on his
face and if that card isn't his, just say, "oh, I meant to leave
this card there", and lay the second card there picking up the
first card. This is a sure fire trick and a quickie and your audi-

ence will think you are trying to do the old twenty-one card
effect.

SPELLING CARD TRICK WITH DUPLICATE QUEENS

By W. E. (Bill) Salisbury
Here is a trick that my
friend Bill Salisbury has made a
masterpiece of, and I am
sure with a bit of practice you can do
likewise. It will bring forth a lot of laughs from your audience,
and that is what you are striving for. More laughs, more
money. Keep this in mind.
Effect: Get some younglad to assist you on the stage who
you think is capable of spelling a few simple words. The magi-
cian shows the assistant how he wants him to spell the cards by
spelling "One" taking a card oft the top of the deck for each
letter and placing cards on bottom of deck one at a time. Turn
the next card which will be a "One". Then lay the Ace, after
showing it, face down on the table. Now do the same with the
spelling of "Two" and "Three". Now you think the boy under-
stands, and you ask him to spell "Four", and he gets the
Queen. Performer takes the cards from the assistant and places
the Queen on bottom of stack and again demonstrates the
spelling of "Four" and lays same on the table after showing.
Now ask assistant if he can spell "Five". Of course he can,
but again he gets a Queen. Performer again takes stack, places
45
Queen on bottom of stack, proceeds to spell "Five", and shows
and lays same face down on table. Now ask boy to spell "Six",
and again the lad arrives at the Queen. Again performer takes
stack, places Queen on bottom and spells "Six" and lays same
on table.
Now performer spells both "Seven" and "Eight" and shows
them and lays them on the table. Assistant trys again and gets
Queen. Performer now lays the Queen on the table with some
comment about "getting rid of that card
— ". Now proceed to
spell "Ten" and lays that on the table face downward. Assistant
now trys to spell "Jack" and again gets a Queen. Performer
now spells "Jack" and shows and lays same on the table. Now
performer with two cards left reverses Queen and King and
spells "Queen" and lays same on table face down. Performer
now shows "King" and places it face down on table.
Secret: Set the cards up as follows using all red cards and
omitting the nine and using two Queens of Spades:
3-5-Q-A-K-10-Q-2-8-7-J-6-4
As you spell the cards take one card at a time from top of
deck and place the card at the bottom of deck.

SIMPLICITY POKER DEAL

By Lt. Royal H. Brin, Jr., USN
This feat is based on an idea of Martin Gardner. The orig-
inal version seemed too involved and a little unhandy in
handling.
Effect: After the spectator cuts the deck, the performer
deals four open hands of poker, announcing that the fourth
hand will be his own. The hands are face up an each draws
according to its needs. At the end of the draw performer is
found to have the winning hand —
four aces!
Secret: While toying with the cards, performer gets the
four aces on top of the deck and also notes and remembers the
8th card from the bottom. This is his key card. This prelim-
inary preparation can also be made in the course of a pre-
ceding trick. The deck is offered to the spectator, who makes a
genuine cut. Performer now takes the cards and begins to deal
four face up hands in a fair, open manner. He watches for the
key card, knowing when it turns up the aces will be seven cards
down. If the key card appears in the original face-up hands,
46
performer knows how far the aces are from the top of the deck
and proceeds with the draw, each drawing being made face
down. Performer regulates the number of cards drawn by each
hand, giving plausible reasons, so that the four aces will be on
top when he draws for his own hand. This is an easy matter, in
that he may cause hands to drop out or stay in, to keep a kicker
or not, to split a pair and draw for a flush, or to keep the pair,
etc., thus using up the necessary number of cards in the draw
for the first three hands.
If the key card doesn't show up in the original hands, the
draw for the first three hands is made face up. The first hand
should draw as large a number
of cards as will plausible. seem
When the key card does turn up, the performer at once knows
the position of the aces and proceeds as above, regulating the
rest of the draw as necessary.
Further variation is possible. The draw for the first three
hands may be made to end with one indifferent card above
the aces, this is more convenient. In that case, the performer
throws his whole hand away and draws five new cards.
Also, if the performer received a pair in the original deal,
he may keep it and draw three cards, ending with a full house.

This effect is best presented as a demonstration of how

gamblers always win. The fair cut made bythe spectator just
before the deal begins makes the feat puzzling yet convincing.

TWENTY CARD SEQUEL

By Lt. W. T. Williard
Here is an effect shown me by one of the hospital staff
and he said it was shown him by a patient in the Walter Reed
Hospital. I later found it was one of my friends tricks, Dai
Vernon. This trick is of the same family as the Sequel only
you use 20 cards in one and fifty-two cards in the other and
the up and down movement is used in counting instead of on
the table. I think the trick is well planned and I sure owe a
vote of thanks to its author as the sequel has always been one
of my favorites and is in all my other books.
Effect:the deck has a Joker it is used, if not, the Ace
If
of Spades. start of the trick you take deck and remove
At the
three cards one of which is the Ace of Spades or the Joker the
47
other two cards remain face downward. Now the spectator is
asked to shuffle the deck and remove 20 cards. The index card
which we will call the joker is now handed to a spectator with
instructions to insert it anywhere in the 20 card packet, then
he looks through the packet and remembers the card at the
left of the index card. The deck is now passed to a second
spectator with instructions to look at the card at the right of
the index card and remember same. Now the cards can be given
a square cut by both spectators.
Now the performer takes the packet of 21 cards and says to
the first remember whether your card
spectator please note and
is in the upper portion or lower portion of this packet. Now the

back card of the packet is taken by the right hand saying "up"
and the next card is taken saying "down" and placed about
half way down so that it covers the lower portion of the first
card. This is carried on thru the packet keeping the up cards
squared even and the down cards squared even. Now withdraw
the "down cards" and place them on top of the remaining "up
cards". Now go thru this same routine with the second person
and ask was your card in the packet —
of course it was as this
is only a bit of misdirection.
Now you ask someone to remove the index card as you run
the cards face towards them. Saying please remember I do
not see or know any of these cards except the index card which
you are removing. When the index card is removed cut the
deck at the point of removal. Now say, "I will divide the packet
in two heaps of ten cards each" (making sure you don't dis-
arrange their order) Placing one heap in front of one spectator
.

and the other heap in front of other spectator. Patter "here I

have two cards face downward that you recall I placed there
before you even shuffled the deck, the purpose being to tell
me the location of your card in the pile. "Please turn over your
card". It is a 5 spot. Count down to the fifth card hold same in
front of spectator face downward ask the name of his card
and throw card on table face up and it is the selected card.
Now turn the other card face up it is a six spot and count down
and the second spectator's card is found at that location.
If you can force the five and six spot it helps the trick a lot.
This is a very wonderful effect and I am sure you will like it.
I usually have a five spot on top of deck and a six spot on

the bottom of deck. When I have the twenty cards drawn, they
48
are taken from the center of deck — now at the conclusion of
trick I have the packet cut and each half placed in front of
the spectator's ten card packet — this gives me a five spot on
top and a six spot on bottom.

RIFFLE SHUFFLE
Here a quickie if you don't mind a previous stack and I
is

find that always fools the lay audience when you use it as
it

an opening close up trick.

Effect: Take thirteen cards of a suit and place same on
top of deck. Now remember the top card of your deck say —
it is the Jack of Spades. The spectator now gives you any num-

ber lower than twelve and you count the cards off the deck one
at a time until you reach that number —
say it was eight and
the card looked at was the five of spades. Now that places the
key card Jack of Spades on top of it. Now ask that deck be
given a riffle shuffle and for good measure another riffle
shuffle and a square cut. Now performer takes the deck and
looks for his key card Jack of Spades and the next spade below
it or at its right is the spectators five of spades which you pro-

duce as you see fit.

TWO DIGITS
Here is a four Ace trick with an old idea for producing
the Aces.
Effect: You place four Aces tenth, eleventh, twelfth,
and thirteenth, cards from the top of the deck. It makes no
difference what cards are above same as the trick is self
working. Ask spectator for any number between ten and
twenty. Say he gave you sixteen. Then you count sixteen cards
off the deck a card at a time face downward in a pile. Now you
say "sixteen has two digits which added together totals seven,
1 plus 6 equal 7 so I will count seven cards back on to the deck"

when you come to the seventh card instead of placing same on

deck just throw it face down on the table and place the re-
maining nine cards on top of the six cards placed on the deck.
Now ask for another number, say you get "eleven" count
eleven cards one at a time onto the table and again you add
the two digits which gives you a total of two, so one card goes

49
on the deck and the second card face down on the table, the
balance goes back on top of the deck. Now ask for another
number and say you get fourteen, again deal fourteen cards
on the table face down one at a time. Again total the digits,
which gives you a total of five. Four cards one at a time go on
top of the deck and the fifth card is placed on table, the balance
of cards placed back on top of deck. Now again ask for a
number and say you get nineteen. You count off nineteen cards
face down one at a time on table. You total the digits and get
ten. Count nine cards back onto the deck and the tenth card
goes on the table. The trick is now finished, turn over the
four cards on the table which are the "four aces."

TAPPING TRICK
By Ed Miller
Here an effect that my friend Ed Miller gave me the
is

last timewas in his shop. It is a nice little trick for husband

I

and wife, or any two people to perform.

Effect: Have ten cards placed on the table, four cards in
one row, two cards in center row, and four cards in other row,
all face up. Call the attention of the audience to your assistant
who will leave the room while they touch any card they de-
sire. Your assistant will then returnand give them the name
of the card touched. Start touching the cards and continue
until you have touched all the cards on the table. After you
have completed this your assistant calls the name of the card.
Repeat the trick and request the assistant to leave the room.
Tell spectator he can arrange the cards in any order, or that
you will start counting from any card he desires. The assistant
then returns and gives spectator the name of the card touched.
Secret: Very simple. Among your ten face up cards, be
sure to have a ten spot. That card is the pattern of the ten cards
on the table. All you are obliged to do is touch the spot on
the index card on the table that tallys with the location of the
lay out on the table. For instance, you started with your index
card and it was located on the right hand corner. The assistant
would call that card, after you had completed your count of
cards. Start with the right hand corner and when the spectator
touches a spot on your key card the "ten spot", notice the spot
he touches and that spot will denote the location of the touched
50
card on the table. Should there be two or three tens in your
ten card selection, the key card will always be the higher
ranking "ten spot". With a bit of practice you can do this with
the cards face downward, using one of the two outside piles
and Poker.

BRIDGE AND POKER DEMONSTRATION

By W. F. (Rufus) Steele
Here is a demonstration which I have used in a great many
of my lectures. It creates considerable talk and yet is so simple
you are always ready for any occasion.
The principle is taken from other effects which I have
witnessed. I have added the idea of other peoples' tricks to in-
clude one big demonstration that will take in both Bridge
and Poker. At this time I am interested in giving you my
version of Contract Bridge and Poker.
When I commence the trick I usually have four cards
selected and call attention to the fact that a gambler trains
himself on memory and quick glances at several items and
then checks up to see how many he really was able to see and
remember. The gambler usually practices on downtown show
windows, but not being able to demonstrate this feat at this
time, we will demonstrate with a deck of 52 playing cards.
Four persons are requested to select and remember four
different cards, one card to a person. Each person is handed
a portion of the deck (12 cards) and told to place his selected
card on the bottom of his packet.
The selected cards are placed on the bottom of their
packets. The performer asks each person to give him a quick
flash of his bottom card as the performer says "three" at the
same time saying "Please turn your packets face toward me for
just a second, don't try to help me, make my demonstration
hard". This being done the performer says "That is fine, I think
I caught a glimpse of all four cards, so shuffle your cards for
this demonstration." Then, "As each of you hold a group of
cards, I shall call for cards in a haphazard manner, trying to
avoid calling the same card more than once." You then re-
quest forty-eight different cards, which leaves four cards, one
in each spectator's hand, you call off the last four cards, which
are the four cards selected at the beginning of the trick and
51
were flashed at you. You then add "so you see friends, if you
really concentrate you could remember a full deck of cards
instead of only four".
Having demonstrated a feat of memory, you call atten-
tionto the popular games of the day, Bridge and Poker,
and ask what they would like to have you demonstrate
(force Bridge as the first demonstration) You go into the
.

question that is asked you a great many times, "How can

a gambler cheat in Bridge?" and you answer "Brother, Bridge
was made for the gambler; I could write a book, and a
big book on the different methods used. If you think it is diffi-
cult to cheat at Bridge, let us deal a hand. A gambler knows
in a game of Bridge that his opponents must play their hand
whether they like it or not, so his only concern is the cards
held between his partner and himself. All the opponent can do
is "Pass" until the cheater arrives at the final "contract," so

with that you deal four hands. You state, "we won't bother
to look at the opponent's hand, as here I have dealt a "seven
no trump" hand the unbeatable hand of Bridge." Show your
hand and it contains all the honor cards of the game. My Bridge
stack consists of twenty cards:
KD KC KH KS AC AD
- - - - - - JC - AS - JD - QC - QD
- QS - QH. Now we have you must be pre-
a 13 card stack, but
pared for the Poker demonstration, so you add to your stack
JH - AH - JS - 10H - IOC - 10D - and 10S. These cards are
stacked for your partner by adding six more indifferent cards
to them. When the four hands of Bridge are dealt, all you have
to do is place your 13 card stack on top of his 13 face down
cards and there is your stack for a four handed poker game.
You then go on "of course in Bridge every hand must be
played, but in Poker you can play or not, as you see fit. What

do you say to a little game of four handed poker?" You deal

every player a pat hand, a straight and you the dealer take
the best hand, a Royal Flush in Spades. Pick up the hands from
left to right, starting with the hand at your left, placing each
hand face down in your left hand. This stacks for the next
deal. Again deal four hands. Remark, this time it will be Stud
Poker" but deal as you would for draw —
five cards face down.
The player on the left has a pair of Queens, the next player
has a pair of Jacks and the player on your right has a pair
of Aces. You are still running to form and have an Ace high

52
straight. Pick up. cards again, deal left to right but leave the
cards face up in your left hand. Turn the cards over, deal out
four more hands. This time you are playing draw. You deal
out two pair of Aces and Queens, the next player has three
Jacks and the next hand has four Tens, but you are the boss
with four Kings. Now, pick up the cards again from left to
right, leave them face up in hand. Turn cards over and say
"I have a date with my girl, this will have to be the last hand"
and with that you deal yourself a Royal Flush and three other
pat hands.
This may seem a bit long for your program, but I can
assure you it will hold plenty of interest throughout the
demonstration.
If you can false shuffle and false cut, it will help a lot.
At the start of the trick have four bottom cards of your
stack in your pocket and let each spectator shuffle the deck,
now add the four cards and just force or pass them out. Either
is all right. By reversing the pick up you can deal the second
hand in stud.
Here is my stack and should you desire more information,
write me:
2H - 9C - 4H - QH - 4D - 5D - 3S - QS - 7D - 8C - 5S - QD -

9D -8H - 6H - QC - 4S - 9H - 3D - JD - 9S - 7H - 7S - AS - 6D -

10S 2S - JC - 8S - 10D - 6S - AD - 5H - IOC - 2D - AC - 8D

- -

10H - 3C - KS - 2C - JS - 7C - KH - 3H - AH - 6C - KC - 4C -

JH - KD. The last four cards are the force cards. The top
5C -

card of your deck should be Deuce of Hearts and the bottom

card the King of Diamonds.

MISSING DEUCE
By Bert Allerton
an old idea that might be new to some of you. Any-
This is

way well in any close up work with cards. It has a sleight

it fits

but not a hard one to master.

Effect: A deck is shuffled and a card is selected and
placed on top of cut pack. Now
performer turns deck up and
shows a deuce on bottom of deck and asks spectator to re-
member same. The deck is turned over and the deuce is laid
on the table. The deck is again turned face up and the second
53
deuce shown, again the deck is turned over and a card is laid
on top of the first deuce. Now a third card is taken from bottom
of the deck and shown, it is another deuce. Again a card is
taken from the bottom of the deck and shown and it is the
fourth deuce. Now the spectator has looked at four different
deuces Spades, Hearts, Diamonds and Clubs. The four cards
are placed on the spectator's hand as they are taken from
bottom of deck. The top card is laid on the table face up, re-
member a deuce, the second card is laid on the table face up,
remember another deuce. The third card is laid on the table
face up, remember another deuce. Now we have three deuces
face up on the table and one card face down on spectator's
palm. Ask spectator "what deuce is missing" when he tells
you its name just say "and by the way what was your selected
card". When he turns the card over in his palm it is the selected
card.

Secret: At the start of the trick we have two deuces on

top of the deck and two deuces on the bottom of deck. Now the
cards are shuffled (not disturbing the deuces, of course) a card
is selected and as you square cut the deck the selected card is

placed on top of two deuces and there will be two deuces on

top of the selected card. The four deuces and the selected card
are brought to the bottom of deck. Now you turn deck over
and show the bottom card which is a deuce (2 of Spades).
Ask spectator "to hold out his hand" and turn deck over and
draw out the deuce and lay it on his hand face down. Now
turn the deck over and show second deuce (2 of Hearts)
turn the deck over and this time you glide back the deuce and
take out the selected card and lay on spectator's hand. The
next card you draw out without turning deck over show it to
the spectator (2 of Clubs). The fourth card is also removed
without turning deck over, show it to spectator (2 of Dia-
monds). The reason for not turning the deck over the last
two times you show a deuce is because you must not show
the two of Hearts which you pulled back. Now take the
cards off of his palm and turn packet face up calling attention
to the two of spades on the bottom. Turn deck over again and
instead of taking out the two of spades use the glide and draw
out the spectator's selected card and place same face down on
his palm. Now the next card you take out is the two of Clubs
which you show and place face down on his hand. Now you
54
 .

draw another card out, the two of Diamonds and show it and
place on top of pile in spectators hand. Now the last card you
take out is really the Deuce of Spades which you showed first,
so don't givehim anymore than a flash of it. Now you place the
top card on the table (two of Spades) face up. The next card
turn face up on the table the two of Diamonds. The next card
you turn face up on the table the deuce of Clubs. Now spec-
tator has one card left face down on his palm (selected card)
Ask "what deuce missing?" The deuce of hearts, says spec-
is

tator. "Please turnover", and instead of the deuce of Hearts

it

on spectators palm we find the selected card. I have had

people swear they saw the four deuces.
You might add a little to this effect by locating the deuce
of Hearts and as you point to the last card and say "what
deuce is missing?" and spectator tells you, say, "no here is
the deuce of Hearts, that card must be the selected one."

ROYAL FLUSH
A great many ask a spectator what hand he would
times I

like to see in Poker and usually get a "Royal Flush" for my

I

answer and, with that answer, I spread the cards face up to

show they are well mixed. I then ask "how many hands will
I deal?" If they give me three hands, that is fine —
I just count

off 15 cards and then say "to get the Royal Flush all I have to
do is remember a certain combination of numbers" and, with
that, I lay a card aside, face down, on the table and pick up
the cards and say "you give me a number, any number between
'10 and 20';" say I get "17", I count off that many cards and

again lay one card on the table and then after I have repeated
this routine three more times I have five cards laying on the
table, face downward, and make the remark " and there folks,
is your 'Royal Flush' from your own number of cards."

Secret: First count off nine cards; then place your Royal
Flush, 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th card from the top of the
deck, counting your nine cards directly on top of your 5-card
Royal Flush. Now, get any number between 10 and 20 and
count that number onto the table, one at a time. (I usually say,
"how about dealing a three handed draw poker game").
This amounts to 15 cards in all. I then deal 15 cards, face down
on the table, one at a time. Then I pick up the cards and add
55
the two digits of 15 together, which gives me "six". I then deal
five cards, one at a time on to the top of the deck, and when
I come to the sixth card I it aside and place the re-
just toss
maining ten cards on top of the already placed on the deck.
five
Right here I ask a spectator to give me a number between 10
and 20, and whatever number he gives me I count that many
cards on the table, one at a time face downward. Say he said
"11", I count eleven cards down and add the two digits, which
makes a total of two, and place the top card of my pile of
eleven cards on the deck and the second card I toss aside and
place the remaining nine cards on top of the deck and ask for
another number. Say I get "19" —
I count off that many cards

face downward on the table; total the two digits, which gives
—
me a total of 10 one at a time I count off from my pile of 19
cards and place them on the deck until I reach nine, and the
10th card I toss on the table and the rest of the cards are placed
on top of the other nine cards on the deck. This is repeated
twice more, and when I have 5 cards on the table I say "Be-
lieve it or not, there is your 'Royal Flush'" and turn the cards
face up.
If you spread the cards face up, calling attention to an or-
dinary deck without preparation your 10th, 11th, 12th, 13th
and 14th card will go unnoticed because they are so far down
in the deck.

NUMBER TRICK
By Van Osdol
This trickis an old timer, and one of the best tricks for

fooling a crowd I have ever handled.

Effect: Use any deck and after the same has been shuffled
thoroughly you ask spectator to divide the same into two equal
heaps. Give performer whichever heap he chooses. Spectator
now counts his cards and when he arrives at his total, add the
two digits to his total together. Suppose he cut the deck equal,
then he would have 26 cards in his pile. The two digits total
eight. Count off eight cards from his pile and give same to
performer who places them in his pocket with the other half of
the deck. (When spectator gives me my half, I usually place
same in my pocket as this adds a bit more mystery to the
effect) . Performer now asks spectator to think of any number
56
between one and ten, remove that number of cards from his
pile and give them to performer, who places them in pocket
with rest of the cards. Suppose spectator thought of the num-
ber six. Have spectator, after he has finished shuffling the pile,
look at the sixth card in his pile, remember same, square up
the pile and pass it to the performer. The performer locates
the card spectator looked at.

Secret: When you receive the cards from spectator, just

count the cards one at a time, placing the first card on bottom
of pile, each card following thereafter. This reverses the order
of the cards as you are counting. When you come to the ninth
card the first time, just pass it up. Start counting again until
you reach the nine the second time and this is the spectator's
selected number card. Should there only be nine cards in spec-
tator's pile, you know his selected number must have been nine
and turn the bottom card over.

PREDICTION
By Doc Roberts
Many prediction tricks have been performed under the
same idea of finding a certain card, but in my opinion, the
following method is probably the best of the lot and the eas-
iest to do.
Effect: The deck is shuffled and spectator removes any
four cards he sees fit and places them in a row face downward
on the table. He then takes the denomination of the first card
(say it is a four spot) and adds enough cards to it to make a
total of twelve, in other words, eight cards are placed on top
of the four spot. This is repeated with the second card (if a
nine spot he adds three more cards so that this card will total
twelve). Two more packets are used in the same way. Face
cards are counted as ten and two cards would be added to
make the total of twelve. When the four piles have been com-
pleted we have that many piles with a total count of twelve in
each Using the bottom card of your pile you start the
pile.
count. Thetotal spots of the bottom four cards are added to-
gether. After receiving the total you have your prediction read
and the cards counted to this number, arrived at by adding
the values of the four bottom cards, which card is turned face-
up, and is the predicted card.

57
 Up to this point the method used might be a bit old to some
of you since it has been used as a locator for some time, but the
method of presenting the trick is just a bit different.
Secret: Upon starting the trick steal a card from the deck
and remember its denomination. When spectator has shuffled
the deck and made stacks of "twelve count" you show the spec-
tator how you want the cards counted, at which time you do
your timing as you secretly palm the card in your pocket while
showing how you want the spectator to work. As you turn the
cards over on the table you secretly add the palmed card from
the pocket to the pile and then find the total of the bottom
card. This being done with the first heap, have the spectator
turn over the second heap and add the total of the bottom
card to that of the bottom card of the first heap. Place this
second packet on top of the first heap face up-wards. Spec-
tator turns over the third heap and adds the total of the bottom
card to the first and second heap and places the third packet
on top face up-wards, he does likewise with the fourth heap,
obtaining his grand total from the four bottom cards of the
four packets. Now the pile of face-up cards is turned over
face-down, and leaves your predicted card on top of the
packet. The remaining cards of the deck are placed on top of
your packet and when spectator counts to his grand total, he
finds the card the performer wrote down while spectator was
shuffling the deck in the beginning of the trick.
I believe you will like this effect when used on a crowd of
friends. It will make them think a bit.

MAKING IT STICK
This is an effect that I have watched Gene Bernstein do
many times for large crowds and it always impresses me. The
trick is a old one but few have the secret of working it.
Effect: A card is selected by some spectator and the per-
former asks the spectator "to stand close to the wall or door."
Spectator is now asked to try and place the card upon the wall
or door with a request "Stick there." Spectator trys same and it
fails to work. Now the performer states he will hypnotize the
spectator so that the card will stick there. Performer standing
some distance away, advances toward the spectator with the
usual gestures. Upon touching the spectator or taking hold of

58
his hand with a request for the card to stick there. And it

sticks. Now the performer steps away from

the spectator and
the mystic power has disappeared as the card will not do spec-
tators bidding.
Secret: Static electricity inducted thru the body of the
performer by slightly shuffling feet across carpet or rug, as he
advances toward spectator, the card will stick just by touching
the spectator. This effect can be produced in any location where
static electricity can be generated from a carpet or rug. This
demonstration can be used on several other articles.

MENTAL THOUGHT
By Bill Bowman
This effect was shown years back by my old
me some
friend Bill Bowmanof Seattle, who probably is one of the best

handlers of the pasteboards in the Northwest. When oppor-

tunity arrives, use it. I am sure it will pay a good dividend in
publicity for it does come under the heading of impossible.
Effect: Spectator requested to take any deck of cards
is

(if possible use a brand new deck). He is to take the deck

some distance away from any person, shuffle same and then
scan through the cards face up, center his thoughts on one of
the 52 playing cards. When he has done so, he is to write the
name of the card on a slip of paper so it cannot be read by any-
one present. By "name" is meant identity of the card. He is
told not to write the full name but to use two letters or a
figure and letter. For instance, if he has selected the King of
Hearts for his card, he is to write K.H. or K and a heart figure.
After that has been done, he is instructed to place the slip in
his pocket, return to the group where the performer holds
forth. Once the card is thought of, the deck is shuffled and set
aside. Spectator, after returning to the group is asked by per-
former "if you thought of a certain card and if he wrote
that name down on a piece of paper and there would be
no way of the performer knowing at the moment what the card
was that spectator thought of or wrote down on the piece of
paper, what would you think?" and upon receiving a reply
performer goes over to the table, scans the deck for a moment,
then tears off a piece of paper and writes the initials of some
card on the paper, folds the same and returns to the group,
59
handing the piece of paper to some spectator, asking him to
hold same for a moment. Performer then turns to the spec-
tator who thought of the card and wrote its initials on a piece
of paper which he now has in his pocket and asks him to pro-
duce this slip of paper and read aloud the name of the card
selected. Upon doing this the performer asks the spectator
holding his slip of paper to read the name of the card written
on it. To the amazement of all, the two slips tally and the
selected card is revealed as though it was strictly a mind
reading test.

Secret: The effect sounds too good to be true, but never-

theless very simple and easy to do. The whole secret is in a
it is

prepared newspaper which performer carries in his pocket, or

is close by the table when the trick is being performed. When

you leave home, carry some talcum powder in a little box, and
sprinkle a little on the inside of the white border of your news-
paper. Rub it in well and be sure there is no surplus powder on
the surface of the newspaper. With the corner of the newspaper
prepared, you tear off a small piece and lay it in front of spec-
tator and tell him "when he has mentally selected a card he
is to write its initials on this slip of paper" and then he is to

put same in his pocket. Be sure you always use a polished table
or desk top, or any glass surface. With a very light touch the
initials of the card will be transfered through the paper to the
surface upon which the writing is done. It is always a good
idea to plan the trick from where the writing will be done.
Many times, when doing it for the ladies, I have used their
black patent leather bags. In closing the trick, you approach
the desk or table and in scanning the cards you are actually
looking for the impression of the initials of the card spectator
wrote down. Once you spot the initials, you tear off a piece of
paper from the same newspaper, write these same initials on
the paper and while doing this, wipe off the talcum marks on
the table so no one will get your secret.
This feat can be built up to a very wonderful effect and
will be the cause of much comment and publicity. There will
be many requests to "do it again" and many will think that
the spectator and you were working together, so try and build
the act so that they can't believe this thought. I build it up
out of a clear sky and offer it as a demonstration of mind
reading, insisting that they go out and get a new deck of cards.

60
Give it some thought and once you try it, it will be in your
program of mental effects forever. Bowman has them be-
lieving he is one of those people who can read your mind.

REVELATION
By Bob Oswald
This effect was shown me by Bob Oswald in Casper,
Wyoming, he said it was an effect his uncle studied up. It was
new to me and I liked it so well that I am passing it on for
your approval.
Ask for a deck of cards and after shuffling same count
off a pile of 15 or 20 cards, in a heap —
let us say 18 cards
is the total. Performer now steps away from table and asks
spectator to follow his directions. Please remove some of the
cards you have on the table so as I will not know the total of
cards you have in your pile. Now give the cards a shuffle and
divide same into two piles, about even, or as even as you like.
Now pick up the deck on the table and shuffle same; upon
doing this pick up either pile on the table and look at the
bottom card of that pile and remember same. Now place this
pile on top of the remaining deck, which you have just shuffled
and squared up the cards —
this leaves you with a big stack
of cards and the small stack you had when you divided your
cards a moment ago. Now, on this small stack, I want you to
deal from the larger stack a number of cards one at a time
onto the small stack, a number of ten or more cards. Now
again, shuffle the larger stack and place it on the small stack
on table, square up the deck. Let us say the card you looked at
on the bottom of the first heap you placed on the large heap
was the "King of Hearts". The performer now takes the deck
and starts turning the cards face up on the table, one at a time,
and after doing that for a short time says, "This card tells me
how far down in the deck your card is", and it is there.
Secret: As you count off the cards, start with the number
you originally counted on table, 18, and the first card will be
18 - 19, and so on until you reach the number 40, and the card
he sighted on the bottom of his stack "King of Hearts" will be
13 cards further down. When you get to 39, you start with
King, Queen, Jack, etc., so if the 40th card you turned up
should be a King, just say that card tells me your card is 13
61
cards down, you probably will strike a King or Queen or Jack,
or 10, in your 40th, 41st, 42nd, or 43rd, and sometimes you go
right down to the card and just turn it over —
you can find
several ways for presenting the effect.

TEN CARD EFFECT

Here is an old timer that I dug up in my relics of old
days gone by. You might like to add it to your present day
list of tricks.

Effect:Ten cards are used in this trick, and the specta-

tor asked to concentrate on one of the ten and remember
is

how far down in the packet it is. The packet is now handed
the performer who looks through same and tells the specta-
tor he is not concentrating hard enough and for him to take
the number his card was down in the packet and put that num-
ber of cards one at a time on the bottom of his packet. This the
spectator does, and the performer patters about the number.
Say it was six cards down. Performer now adds, "For good
measure put four more cards on the bottom of the packet." Now
the packet is handed to the performer who holds it for a second
as though he had overlooked some point and hands packet back
to spectator and says, "I forgot. Please remove your card." The
spectator looks and the card is not there. Performer asks what
the card was and produces same from pocket.
Secret: When the packet is first handed performer he
transfers the five cards to the bottom of packet and hands
packet back to spectator telling him he is not concentrating.
Spectator now places the number of cards he thought of on
the bottom of the packet and four more cards for good measure.
Now this places the selected card on top of packet. When per-
former receives packet he palms off top card and gives spec-
tator back the packet asking him to "remove his card." Of
course he can't as performer has the card (which he palmed)
now in his pocket.

POKER STACK FROM NEW DECK

By Bill Salisbury
Set deck in the following order from Ace down to the
Deuce in Clubs then do likewise with Hearts, Spades and

62
Diamonds. Place- this setup back in the case. You are now
ready to do this trick. This is the setup of a new deck.
Remove the cards from case and false shuffle. Have spec-
tator cut the cards. Be sure you cut to an ace on bottom of deck.
Deal twice around people then slip the next (13th
to six
card) to bottom of deck. Now
deal the next two rounds and
slip the next card (25th card) to bottom of deck. Deal the
fifth round and you have given each of the six hands a full
house. Now deal yourself five cards, and you have a Royal
Flush. If you wish to deal the next five cards to someone else,
you will have dealt them a straight flush.

IN THE MIDDLE
This is an effect a friend of mine brought back from
Australia some years ago and I think it very catchy, though
you use a duplicate card.
Effect: Two cards of the same denomination, say Jack
of Hearts and Jack of Diamonds, are laid on the table, face up.
Spectator is requested to select any card from the balance of
the deck. This card is placed between the two Jacks, which are
now turned face down. Performer states "I don't know the
name of your card, but I do want you to remember mine —
this bottom card (say Ace of Spades) " You turn the deck over
and show the card on the bottom of the deck (the Ace of
Spades) Now state "I will place this card in my pocket" and
.

upon so stating turn the deck over, slide out the bottom card
and place in your pocket, without showing same to spectator.
You then state "I will put one of my Jacks on top of the deck,
your selected card on top of it and the other Jack on top of
your selected card." When this is done the deck is given a
square cut, the cards are turned up one at a time, until you
come to one of your Jacks, which is laid aside face up, the next
card is taken off the deck and placed face down on top of your
face-up Jack, and a third card is taken off the deck, which is
another Jack, and placed face up on top of spectator's card.
You now patter about what has taken place, show the Ace of
Spades is now between the Jacks and the card spectator se-
lected is taken from your pocket.
Secret: The secret of the trick is that you have a dupli-
cate (say Jack of Hearts) which is placed third from bottom

63
of the deck. Thespectator selects a card and you call attention
to the fact that you do not know his card but you would like
to have him remember your card, which is this card on the
bottom of the deck (say Ace of Spades) You then state "I will
.

place this bottom card in my pocket" and you resort to a small

sleight. You slide back the Ace of Spades and take out the
second card from the bottom of the deck, you do not show the
card but place it in your pocket. Pick up the Jack of Hearts
(this card is important) and place on top of deck face down.
The spectator's card is placed next and now the Jack of
Diamonds on top face down. The deck is cut (square cut)
which places the Ace of Spades on top of the Jack of Diamonds
and the duplicate Jack of Hearts on top of that. The first key
card you turn face up is the duplicate Jack of Hearts which
you lay aside. The next card off the deck is the Ace of Spades
which you do not show but place on top of the Jack of Hearts.
The next card off the top is the Jack of Diamonds which you
place face up on top of the turned down Ace of Spades. This
leaves on top of the deck the Spectator's chosen card, which
you palm off while spectator is removing his supposed selected
card. You have plenty of time so don't hurry. You now show
the cards have changed places.
When I wish to expedite the trick a bit, when spectator
cuts the deck I say "here, give this pile another cut, it will
shorten the effect!"

V\cK A cAKpO

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64
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