Bob King - The Breather - The Ultimate Crimp Vol 1

The

Ultimate

Crimp

Routines

and

Applications

by

Bob

King

The Llltimate Crimp

Copyright

1993

O

by

Bob

King Magic

OON.ffNTS

Introduction

Putting

in

the Work

Basic Routine

Impossible Location

I'll

Guess Your Weight

Instant Revelation

A Cut Above (I)

As a Force

A Cut Above

(II)

Pinnacle Aces Revisited

Far Out of Sight

Under Your Spell

11

L2

L4

[ first

leamed the Breather

Crimp

in

1973, and since then, have

fooled almost every magician

I've

used

it on.

[t

has recently been

published

in

a couple

of

places and is becoming

fairly well

known.

However, despite this and the fact that

I

have been

lectur-ing on

it

for

three years,

I still

see

only

a

few

magicians using

it.

What

I

have

tried

to accomplish in

this

book is to illustrate

by

way

of

example, the usefulness of

this

great crimp.

The Breather

Crimp,

when put

into

a card, is there

for

the

life

of

the

deck. It

may be called

into

play whenever needed, but is

in-visible

and no hindrance when not

used.

[t

can even be secretly

put into

a borrowed deck

with

no fear

of it

being discovered later.

After

becoming

familiar with

the

crimp,

the reader

will

discover

many ways

to

use

it

in

new

tricks, or simply

to make

old tricks

much easier.

A

couple

of

the routines

in

this book have appeared

in

my other

books.

However, they have been redone since

their original

publi-cation, so please

don't

pass them

up.

Several items have fooled

some of the best card men around, and appear here

for

the

first

time.

Finally,

each

of

these routines has been, or is being performed

by

me at the present time; they are professional routines and have been

thoroughly

audience

tested.

Have

fun!

Magically,

SJalL

gting

Putting

In

The

Work

Take the card, into

which

you are going to put the

crimp,

face

down, into the

right hand.

Place the

left

thumb onto the center

of

the back of the

card.

Place the

first

and second fingers

of

the

left

hand undemeath onto the face of the card,

with

their tips pressing

up against the thumb.

Take hold

of

one corner

of

the card

with

the

right

fingers.

While

pressing very

tightly,

the

left

f,rngers slide to the diagonally

oppo-site

comer.

This

will

put a concave trench

into

the card,

from

the center to one

corner.

Re-grasp the center

of

the card

with

the

left

fingers and take another comer

with

the

right hand.

Do the slide to another corner,

putting

a second trench

in.

Do

this

same

thing

with

the remaining

two

corners.

If

you

look

at the face

of

the card, you

will

see a star shape,

culmi-nating

in

a

dull

point at the center.

With

this

card in the center

of

the deck,

it

can be cut to

from

the

ends or the

sides. [t

can be

visually

spotted at the side

of

the deck when doing a faro-shuffle, or

it

can be located

with

any

of

the

various one-handed cuts.

One last

tip.

I

have been

known

to put the

crimp in

a borrowed

deck,

right in

front

of

the spectator, under the guise

of

straighten-ing out a bent card.

Basic

Routine

Hand the deck out

for

shufflirrg.

When

it

is returned, and

while

talking,

casually cut the

crimp

to the

bottom.

The easiest

way

is

to

hold

the deck

from

above

in

the

right hand.

Relax your

grip

If

the

crimp

is not too close to the top or bottom, the deck

will

cut

right to

it.

You

will

know

by

feel whether

or

not you cut to

it.

If

not,

simply

place the

right

hand cards below the others and do

it

again.

This time, the

crimp

will

be centered and you

can't

miss.

Have a card selected.

Holding

the deck

from

above in the

right

hand, the

right forefinger

swivels the top

half

to the

left

and

into

the

left hand.

Have the card replaced onto the

left half

and cleanly drop the other

half

on

top.

The

crimp

is now on top of the

selec-tion

in

the center of the deck.

Place the deck onto the table

with

a long edge nearest

you.

The

right

hand cuts to the

crimp

and places these cards to the

right

in

preparation

for

a

riffle shuffle.

The selection is now the top card

of

the

left

half. Riffle

shuffle the

two

halves together, letting the

top

card of the

left half

fall

last.

You

have,

in

a very clean manner, controlled the card to the top, where

it

can be dealt

with

any way you choose.

Impossible

Location

Start

with

the

crimp

on the bottom

of

the

deck.

Have a spectator

cut the deck into three packets.

Tell

him

to peek at the top card

of

one

of

the packets and leave the card where

it

was.

Your

next instructions depend on

which pile

he peeked the card

from.

If

he chose the packet

with

the

crimp

on the bottom, have

him

cut this packet and complete the cut - thus burying his card.

Have

him,

then, bury this packet between the other two.

Should he choose either

of

the other

two

packets, have

him

place

this

pile

onto either of the other

two.

Should he place

it

onto the

crimp-pile,

have

him

cut this

pile

as before and bury the whole

thing into

the other

pile.

If

he places

it

onto the non-crimp

pile,

In

each

of

these cases, the

crimp winds

up on top

of

the selection

in

a most

fair

manner.

From here, you rnay proceed any

way

you

wish;

you may want to

have

him

cut the cards any number

of

times before you do the

dirty work.

I'U

Guess

Your Weight

(Revised)

EFFECT:

A

spectator cuts

off

an unknown number of cards. The

performer proves that he can cut

off

any amount by cutting

offthe

exact same number as the spectator.

After all

cards are replaced, the performer takes a

quick look

at the faces

of

the cards. The

spectator names his card, and the performer not

only

tells

him

how

far down

in

the deck

it

is, but cuts

off

that very number and

turns over the selection.

METHOD:

Make a Breather

Crimp

and place

it

at the bottom

of

the deck. Shuffle

24

cards

below

it

and you are ready. Spread the cards

for

a selection, making sure that

it

comes

from

the top

half

of

the deck.

While

the card is being shown around, grasp the deck in the

right

hand

from

above. Relax the fingers and the bottom

half,

below the

crimp,

will

fall

into

the

waiting left

hand. Have the selection replaced onto the

left

hand cards and drop the other

half

on top.

Turn

your head away and ask the spectator to cut

off

a packet

of

cards-

caution

him

to take less than

half.

Turn

to

face

him

as you explain that since you

limited him

to

half

the deck, you

will

face

him

as you explain that since

you limited him

to half the deck,

you

will

do the same

for yourself.

Deal the top 26 cards

into your

right

hand, reversing

their

order. Place the rest of the cards down. You now claim that you

didn't

have to

count off

26-you

could

have

simply

cut

off

that exact amount.

Noticing

that the spectator

looks

doubtful, tell him

that you

will

prove

it;

drop the cards

in

Ask

the spectator

to

count his cards so that you may prove

your

claim.

As

soon as you hear the amount,

quickly

cut to, and

includ-ing, the

crimp.

Count these cards back onto the remainder and you

will

find

that you have the same amount as the spectator.

Have the spectator place his cards onto

all.

The selected card

will

now be at a position 2 cards further

down in

the deck than the

number he cut

off

earlier;

if

he

cut

16

originally,

his card

will

now

lie

18 cards down.

Also,

the

crimp

will

be

directly

above his card. Spread the cards face up and scan them as though you were

memorizing the cards and their

positions.

Square the cards face

down.

Ask for

the name of the card, ponder its whereabouts and announce its position in the deck.

Assuming

it

is

16 down, you

would

say something

like:

"...so,

if

I

cut

exactly

15, your card

would

be

right

here."

With

that, cut to the crimp, count the cards

off

to the side and

turn

over the next card to end.

Instant

Revelation

This

great

effect,

given

its worst scenorio,

is

still

a

miracle

to the

laymen.

In

appearance, someone merely thinlcs of a card and

you

name

it;

its that clean.

You

will

need the

crimp

27th

from

the

bottom.

You

can start

with

the

crimp

on the bottom and shuffle 26 cards below

it

in

small

groups, or you can set the deck up ahead

of

time.

While

your head is tumed, ask someone to cut

off

a group

of

cards-less

than

half.

Have them

look

through these cards and

merely

_{think of}

_one.

Caution

him

not to

think of

a picture card as

they are too hard to transmit.

Now,

have

him

remove and hide a number

of

cards equal to the

number of the card he is

thinking

of;

in other words,

if

he were

thinking of

the

four of

spades, he

would

remove and hide

four

Tell

him

that

it

doesn't matter

if

his card is among those he hid.

The rest

of

his cards are returned to the top

of

the deck.

While

pattering, you casually give the deck a Faro shuffle as

fol-lows:

Holding

the deck edge on as is normal

for

a Faro, let the

deck separate at the

crimp

so that

it

and

all

the cards above

it

go

into the

right

hand.

Shuffle

these cards

into

the others so that the

crimped card winds up second

from

the

bottom

(out shuffle).

Now,

do the usual

waterfall

squaring

of

the deck by

bringing

the

right

hand over the deck, fingers at the out end

ofthe

outer packet and thumb at the inner end

of

the inner packet and bowing the cards so that they cascade down

into

the

left

hand. You

will

find

that the surplus cards at the top

fall

as a

block.

As they

fall,

the

left

little

finger

catches a break under them as the deck is squared.

The number of these cards is equal to the number

of

the

mentally

selected card.

As you spread through the face down cards, you

simply

count the

number

of

cards above the

break.

While

doing this,

patter:

"Even

if

I

were

to

look through these cards,

I wouldn't

know

if

your card was among them or among those you have

kept."

You

now

know

the number

of

his card and

will

now use an

old

chestnut to

deter-mine the suit.

Tell him

that you

think

his card was a

"cherry"

colored

one. If

he says yes,

tell him

that you

think it

was a

heart. If

he says yes again,

quickly blurt

out the whole ntrme

of

the card and watch his

face.

This is the best scenario.

If

he says that his card was not a

"cherry"

colored one, you

reply

that there are black cherries

too!

Go through the same procedure as above, except use the black suits.

In

either case, should they say no when you nirme the

first

suit,

quickly

say "..

just

kidding,

I

know

it

was

the..."

Here, you name the number and the other suit.

As I

mentioned earlier, even in the worst scenario, you receive

only two

negative replies and then you make

it

seem as though you knew the card

all

along.

A Cut

Above

(l)

A

VISIT WITH

LARRY JENNINGS,

contains a great

trick

which

was the

inspiration for

this

effect. I

wanted to be able to

show

all

four

aces after their removal

from

the deck; this was not possible

in

the Jennings version.

Begin

with

the aces spread throughout the deck and the

crimp

on

the

bottom.

Run though the deck,

up-jogging

the aces as you

come to

them.

On the

fourth

ace, you add an

indifferent

card to

the back

of

the aces using

Marlo's

Unit

Upjog

(see my book

MORE

MAGICIAN

FOOLBRS

for

a complete description).

The

left

hand strips out

all

five

cards as the deck is tabled face

down.

Spread the

four

aces, face up, keeping the extra card

hid-den at the

rear.

Hand the spectator the

first

two

aces

of

the same

color,

square the remainder and turn them face down

in

the

left

hand.

If

all

of this

is done smoothly, anyone

would

have to swear that

you have

just

two

aces, the szrne as the spectator.

Have your helper place one

of

his aces onto the deck and cut

it

to

the center; this places the

crimp

above his ace.

Take your top card,

calling

it

an ace and place

it

on top

of

the

deck.

Cut to the

crimp

and complete the cut; this brings

his

ace

back to the top.

You

now explain that each

of

you

will

now

bury the other's

With

that, the

right

hand takes your

two

cards, as one,

from

above and gives a flash

of

the face

ace.

Casually, drop these

two

onto

the deck and have the spectator cut the deck and complete the cut. There are

now

three aces below the crimp.

Take the spectator's ace

into

the

right hand.

As the

left

thumb

rif-fles up

your

side

of

the deck, the

right

prepares to apparently

throw

the ace

into

the near side

of

the

deck. Actually,

after a

few

riffles,

the

left

thumb

simply

lifts

up at the

crimp

and the

right

hand throws the ace

into

the break.

Square the cards and then

ribbon

spread them on the table

to

show no breaks

or control of

any

kind.

Square the cards and

position

them

for

a

riffle

shuffle.

Ask

the spectator

if

he

will

allow

you one shuffle to

find

all four

aces.

Time

it

so that by the time he answers, the

following

shuffle

is

complete.

The

right

hand cuts to the

crimp

and places these cards to the

right

of

the

others.

Shuffle the

two

packets together, letting the

top four

cards

of

the

left

packet

fall last.

Thank

your

helper

for allowing

you that shuffle and

turn

up the top

four

cards

to end.

As

A

Force

The

_force

of a card, when completely successful, is one of the

most devastating weapons

in

the arsenal of the card magician.

Using the BREATHER as o

_force

is not only

_fool-proof,

but is so casual

in handling that

it

cannot

possibly

be suspected.

In

addi-tion,

if

the card

_forced

is the

crimp

itself

you

not only know what card was chosen,

you

also have complete

control

of it.

This

force used to

rely

on

visually

locating the card to be forced

and then

holding

a break at that

point.

Using the

BREATHER

allows you to have the deck shuffled and go

right

into the force;

this, and the fact that

you

are going

to

force the card face up, puts

your audience at ease and makes the force much easier.

Start

with

the

crimp

anywhere in the

deck.

Hand the cards out to

be

shuffled.

Take back the cards, locate the crirnp and

bring

it

to

the

bottom.

Cut about

two

thirds

of

the deck to the table and

place the balance on top; the

crimp

is

now

about one

third of

the

way down in the deck.

Table the deck

in

front of

you, face up.

You

are going to cut

packets

off

the deck

to form

a new

pile,

but the

timing

of the

pat-ter accompanying these cuts is crucial.

Cut about a quarter

of

the deck

off

to the side

while

pattering:

"As

I

cut these cards..."

Cut another quarter onto the

first

as you

say: "..just

tell

me when

to

stop."

Now,

cut to the

crimp

and place these cards onto the

others.

Trust

me!

Most times, they

will

say stop

right here.

If

not,

don't

panic; you have one more shot at

it.

If

they do stop here, the force card is the next card

in

the

original

pile

and the

logical

choice

for selection.

If

they

don't

say stop,

simply cut

another packet, and at this

point,

if

they

don't

stop

you,

give

up card

magic.

In this

case, you

would

remove the top

card

of thosejust

cut.

The advantage

of

forcing

a card

more

in

control of

the selection, true.

face up is that

they

seem

to

feel

when

in

fact,

just

the opposite is

I

have

fooled

many magicians

by

doing this

force

and then

re-moving

another deck

from

my

pocket. I

handle

this

deck exactly as

I

would

an

ULTRA MENTAL

or a

BRAINWAVE

deck.

After

showing a duplicate

of their

selection face up

in

my

deck,

I

hand the deck out to be

examined.

Needless to say,

this blows

them away!

If

you want

to

force a face down card, you must have the force

card

directly

beneath the

crimp.

Follow

the above procedure

with

the deck face down.

If

it

is important

that you force the crimp

while

the cards are face

down, you have

two

options.

You

can, on your

third

cut,

allow

the

crimp

to drop

off

the cut-to packet and remain on the

original

pile,

or

you

can put the

crimp into

the card

while it

is face up.

This

way,

instead

of

cutting to the

crimp itself, you

will

cut to the card above

it

and

it

will

remain on the

original pile.

Over the years,

I

have found that

this

is not a

psychological

force.

It

is

completely

mechanical and

if

timed

properly

with

the patter, never

fails.

One

final point.

The face down version

of this

force, being so

disarming, is perfect

to

use

in

any

triple prediction

where you

A Cut

Above

(lt)

In

the

January-February,

1984 issue of

RICHARD'S

ALMA-NAC,

Larry

Jennings offers his version of this

trick,

whereby

you

are able to show the _{foces of} the aces before cutting them

into

the

deck.

I

_felt

that

there were too many unnecessary moves, so this is the

result

of my thinking.

You

will

need

two

aces

with

a fake index at one end;

two of

the

gimmicks from Bro.

Hamman's

FINAL

ACE ROUTINE

are

perfect. Find the

two

regular aces, corresponding to the fakes and place them on

top of

the

deck.

The remaining

four

cards are dis-tributed throughout the deck

with

the fakes going

first

and

third,

reading

from

the face

of

the

deck.

That is, a fake is about a

quar-ter

of

the

way from

the face,

followed by

a regular ace a quarter

of

the deck

further

on

etc.

The

crimp

is on the bottom

of

the deck.

Run through the deck, up-jogging the

first

four

aces. As the

left

hand strips these cards out,

it

tips them back toward you and places them face

down

on the table

with

the fake indices nearest

you and to the

right.

Table the deck

in front of

your helper.

Take the top ace

with

the

right

hand, fingers on the back and

thumb

covering the

lower right

comer on the

face.

Turn the hand

palm up, showing the face of the card and hand

it

to your helper.

Have

him

place the card onto the deck and cut

it

to the middle. Take the next card the same way (the thumb

will

cover the fake

index),

show

its

face and place

it

onto the

deck.

Cut to the

crimp

and complete the cut.

Show and hand the next ace to the spectator and have

him

cut

it

to

the center

of

the

deck.

You

now do the same to the last card as

you

did

with

the

second.

Do your magic gesture and

tum

up the

top four

cards

to

show the aces. To

finish,

the

left

hand comes

over the deck, takes

it

and turns palm

up.

The

right

hand takes the face up deck and ribbon-spreads

it

on the

table.

Only

the fake

Pinnacle

Aces

Revisited

Heruy

Clrist's "PINNACLE ACES"

is one

of my favorite

rou-tines.

However,

I

never

felt

that the revelation of the last ace was

in

keeping

with

the theme

of

the rest

of

the

trick.

Using the

BREATHER CRIMP

puts new

life

into

this

classic.

Have the

crimp

on the

bottom

and any seven spot card about

twenty

cards from the face

of

the deck.

Produce the aces any way

you

choose and lay them out, face up,

from

left

to

right in CHSD

order.

Spread

tluough

the face up deck, counting,

silently,

nine cards. These cards are

flipped

face

down

onto the

left

thumb so that they

are separated

from

the

deck.

They are then taken

with

the

right

hand and placed onto the ace

of

diamonds.

Spread again

until

you see

your seven.

As the

right

hand takes

all

the cards above the seven, the

left little

finger

gets a break be-neath the seven. The

right

hand cards are

flipped

over onto the seven, and immediately,

this

hand takes

all

those cards,

including

the face up seven,

offthe

deck and places them onto the ace

of

spades; these cards are face down

with

a face up seven beneath them.

Spread

off

about

half of

the remaining cards and place them, face

down, onto the

heart.

The remainder is placed onto the ace

of

clubs.

You

are explaining that you

will

lose the aces

in different

parts

of

the deck.

Pick up the packet on the ace

of

diamonds and one hand fan

it,

face

down,

in the

right hand.

The

left

hand picks up the ace and

casually inserts

it

fourth from

the bottom of the

fan.

Square the cards and take them

into

the

left

hand. Pick up the ace

of

spades and place

it

onto the

left

hand cards.

Place the packet

which

was on top

of

this ace onto those

in your

left

hand.

The

right

hand takes the ace

of

hearts and tips

it

face down onto its

packet.

Do

this

so that

it

falls slightly

jogged to the right.

Drop all

the

left

hand cards onto this packet and

pick

the cards up

with

the

right hand. As

the cards are placed

into

the

left

hand,

it

is an easy task

to

get a

little

finger break beneath the ace

which

is

jogged to the

right.

The

right

hand

tips

the ace of clubs onto its

packet.

Cut

all

of the cards above the break onto the ace

of clubs.

Follow

by

cutting

half of

the remaining cards onto those

just

placed to the

table.

Fi-nally,

place the rest

of

the cards onto all.

You now

state that you

will

deal

with

the ace

of

diamonds

first

and that

you

will

cause one, and

only

one, card to turn face up

in

the

deck.

Ribbon

spread the deck face down and

look

surprised

to

find

the seven face up.

Take

all

the cards to the

right of

the seven,

tum

them face up and table

them.

As

you explain that the seven is actually a

locater-card, do the

following:

The

left

hand scoops up the spread

from

the

left.

As the cards settle

into

the

left

hand, you get a

little

fin-ger break under the seven and the card

below

it.

The

right

hand takes these

two

cards as one and places them square onto the face up

portion

placed

down

earlier.

Explain

that since the card is a seven, you

will

count seven cards

to

find

the ace

of

diamonds.

From the top of the face down cards, deal

six

cards face up onto the face up

portion of

the

deck. Turn

up the seventh card

to

show the ace

of diamonds.

Place this ace aside.

Turn the rest

of

the cards face up and place them onto the others.

Turn all

the cards face down. Snap

your

fingers over the deck and

do a

ribbon

spread to show the ace

of

spades has tumed face up. Square

all

the cards to the

right of

the ace and place this ace

with

the other.

The rest

of

the spread is squared and placed onto the other

half

(you have secretly cut the deck at that

point).

You now claim

that you

will

spell to the ace

of hearts.

Dealing

cards

into

a face down

pile,

spell

A-C-E-O-F-H-E-A-R-T-S,

tum-ing up the ace on the

final letter.

Place

this

ace

with

the others.

You

will

now

set up

for

the

mind-blowing

ending to this routine. The

left

hand is

holding

the major

portion of

the

deck.

The

right

hand picks up the ten dealt cards (the

top

card

of which

is the

crimp),

and overhand shuflles them onto the others, running the

first card singly.

This places the

crimp

on top

of

the ace

of

clubs.

Claim

that you believe that the ace

of

clubs is about eleven cards

down.

_Quickly,

cut to the

crimp,

count the ten cards to the table

and

tum

up the eleventh card to show the ace

of

clubs.

Far Out of Sight

Vernon's

"OW

OF

SIGHT,

OW

OF

MIND"

is a

trick

I've

been

doingfor

years.

It

hasfooled

most of those witnessing

it.

The

BREATHER CRIMP and the speciol shuffle

I

have developed

not

only malrcs

it

easier, but impossible to reconstruct.

Pay attention to the

detail, including

the important

patter, and

youwill

have a

miracle

whichwill

serve

you

as long as

it

has me. Start

with

the

crimp

on top

of

the

deck.

Begin

an overhand

shuf-fle

by undercutting about

half

the deck

with

the

right hand.

Shuf-fle

eight cards onto the

crimp, injog

the next card and shuffle

off

the

rest.

Settle the cards into the

left

hand and

lift

up on the

jogged

_card getting a break beneath

it.

Double cut to the break and you

will

have the

crimp

nine cards down.

The

right

hand,

holding

the cards

from

above, allows

all

the cards

below the

crimp to

fall

into the

left hand.

The

right

hand

one-hand fans the nine cards and shows them to a spectator, asking

him

to

mentally

select

one.

The fact that you appilrently

just took

a random number

of

cards is very disarming.

You

must now

control

the nine cards back to the

top.

One way is

to push them

into

the center, get a break above them and double

cut to the

break. I

do

it

the way Vernon

did:

The packet is

placed,

from

the

front, into

the center

of

the

deck.

As the cards are pushed

into

the deck, they are jogged diagonally

with

the help

of

the

right forefinger from above.

The

left little

finger

then straightens out the inner

right

comer, causing the packet to pro-trude

from

the

inner

end

of

the

deck.

The

right

hand takes all the cards above this packet and places them

into

the center of the

deck.

This next

shuffle

sets the nine cards

in

groups

of

three

without

us-ing any

jogs,

as

in

the

original.

The top three cards are shuffled

into

the

left

hand.

Throw

the rest of the cards onto

these.

Shuffle

three cards

into

the

left

hand and then

throw

about half the deck.

Follow by shuffling

the rest

of

the cards, running the last

few

(at

least three)

singly.

The result is that,

from

the face

of

the deck you

will

have three

of

the nine, then

half

the deck, then another three (the

first

of which

is the

crimp),

then the balance

of

the deck, ending

with

the last three.

You

now pretend

to

be

trying to

get the name

of their

card, and then decide that they

didn't

get a long enough

look

at

it.

You are

going to narrow

it

down to three cards.

Turn

the cards face up and

relax

your grip

on the deck so that

it

opens at the

crimp.

You

can

now get a break above the

BREATHER.

This

is done as you

ex-plain

that you

will

have them take another

look

at their

card.

cau-tion

them not

to

say a word when they see

it.

With

your head turned away, begin spreading the

cards.

Here,

you let the

first

three cards go by and then, start

silently

counting

When you reach ten, stop and ask

if

they have seen their

cartl.

If

they say yes, close the deck, drop the break you have and get a new one under the cards already spread.

Ifthey

say no, continue to spread

until

you rgach the break, let three cards go by and start

your

count to ten; stop here and ask the same

question.

If

they

say yes, get your break at this point.

We'll

deal

with

the

third

altemative

in

a

moment. First,let's

as-sume they have said yes to the

first

or second

inquiry.

You

are

going

to

double-cut to the break during the

following

IMPOR-TANT PATTER:

"I

don't know

how many cards

I

showed you in the

beginning...l5...20...it

doesn't

matter.

The fact is that you

are the

only

person

in

the

world

who knows the name

of your

thought-of

card."

Believe me, the reference

to

15 or 20 cards

works;

they always remember my having shown them more than

nine cards.

Ok,

should they answer no to both queries, you

know

that

their

card is one

of

the three at the top

of

the deck

-not

seen yet.

Square the cards as you make some comment

like,

"Well, it

must

be

in

here

someplace." While

saying this, casually shuffle ten cards onto the top

of

the deck

in two

or three groups.

Regardless

of which

of the above actions takes place, the result

will

be the same; there

will

be ten cards on

top of

the deck

fol-lowed

by

three cards, one

of which

is their thought

of card. What

follows

will

take a

bit

of practice, but

it

is important that

it

not

ap-pear studied.

Table the deck

in

front

of

you.

You

are going to take cards

from

the deck and place them

into your left

hand

until

you have dealt

ten

cards. This

must be accompanied by patter so that

it

does not

appear that you are

counting. This

is not easy, so

I

suggest that

you

say exactly the same

thing

each

time.

Choose a couple

of

sentences

which

take the same

time

to say as the dealing

of

ten

cards.

I

always say the

following,

which

takes exactly ten cards

to complete.

I

don't

have to count. When

I

finish

the

following

"I'm

going to deal cards

into

my hand

until I

get the feeling

I

should stop."

(exactly

five

cards have been dealt

into my

left

hand)

"At

that

point,

I'll

stop dealing and

we'll

see what

hap-pens."

(five

more cards have been dealt)

Without

missing a beat, deal the eleventh card, but you do

two

things

here. First,

lift

its back end

just

enough so that you can get a glimpse

of

it,

and as you place

it

onto the other ten cards, you back-jog

it

slightly.

Take the

twelfth

card, glimpse

it

and place

it

onto the others,

aligned

with

the

majority.

Get a break under the jogged card. Paffer to the effect that

you

feel you should stop

here. Ask for

the name

of

the

card.

Since you know the names

of

the top

two

cards, and have a break under

two,

it

is easy to reveal the

selec-tion

by doing a double turnover or

turning

up the top card.

If

you did not see the card he ntunes,

it

must be the top card

of

those

still

on the table;

this

is the one you

turn

up.

This

explanation has taken a

lot

of

space. The

trick

is not nearly

so

long. Don't

pass

this

up, or

I'll

fool

you

with it

some day.

Under Your

Spell

EFFECT:

The spectator cuts

to

any card

in

the deck, and after remembering

it,

buries

it

in the

middle of

the deck;

all of this

is done

while

the

magician's

back is

turned.

The deck is then placed underneath a

handkerchief.

Each

time

a card is brought

from

under the hank, the spectator

silently

spells a letter

of

the narne

of

his

card.

Suddenly, the magician declares that the

spec-tator has spelled the last letter on the card now held by the

rnagi-cian.

Of

course, the magician is

right,

and when

told

the name

of

the card, he turns the one

in

his hand around

to

show the very

METHOD:

First, the deck must be set up

in

Sy Stebbins order, or any arrangement whereby one card keys you to the

next.

The

crimp is

on the bottom

of

the

deck.

You

will

also need a rather large hanky.

Hand the deck to a spectator and

turn

your

back.

Have them cut a rather large

portion from

the top

of

the deck to the

table.

He is

then

to look

at, and remember, the top card of those in his hand.

Next, he cuts his cards,

burying

the selection in the

center.

The

crimp

is now

directly

above his

card.

He now buries this packet

in the

middle

of the tabled packet

by

lifting

some cards

from

the packet on the table, dropping his packet onto the cut-to

portion

and dropping the

cut-off portion

onto all.

It

would

appear that you could have no

information

about his card

or its whereabouts. On the contrary, the bottom card

of

the deck tells you the name

of

his card (next card in the set-up) and the

crimp

is

waiting

to help

you

locate this card.

Pick up the deck and

hold

it

in left

hand dealing

position.

As you

reach

for

the hanky, peek the bottom

card.

Drape the hank over

the deck, and the moment

it

is covering the deck, do a one-handed

cut,

bringing

the crimp to the bottom and his card to the top.

Explain

that

for

each card you

bring

out

from

under the hank, he is

to silently

spcll a letter

of

the name

of

his

card.

Caution

him

not

to

forget the word

"of,"

and not to

tell

you when he has com-pleted the spelling.

Reach under the hank

with

the

right

hand and

bring

out cards

from

the

bottom.

Silently

spell the name

of

the spectator's card, the name

of which

you got

from

peeking the bottom card earlier. Continue

bringing

out cards

until

your spell brings you to the last

letter

of

the name of the card. On the last letter,

bring

out the top

Tell

the spectator that you feel that he has stopped his mental spell on this

card.

He

will

agree, and after he names his card,

turn

the one in

your hand

around and watch the

look

on his face;

I

guarantee you

will

be gratified.

Rochester,

New

York

14620