Table Of Content^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^'^^^^'S^
84
CARD
TRICKS
i
EXPLANATION OF THE GENERAL PRINCIPLES
OF SLEIGHT OF HAND WITH AN EXPOSURE
OF CARD TRICKS WITH ORDINARY
CARDS
BY
HUGH MORRIS
D. ROBBINS & CO., INC.
70 WASHINGTON STREET
BROOKLYN, N.Y. 11201
HOUSE OF "E-Z" MAGIC"
COPYRIGHT 1986
BY
VBAKKUN PVBLISHINQ OOHPAITT
Copyright © 196Zf
by
Max Padell
PSnmD IK TBS ITKITXD STATES OF AlfSBIOA
FOREWORD
Never before have people turned to the playing of games
to whfle away the tedium of a boring evening, as they are
doing nowadays. Time was when only children played games
at their parties. The grownups either talked about politics,
drank cocktails or just sat around and moped. Those who
dared to suggest games were booed into silence.
But times have changed. Everyone, it seems, has taken up
with some sort of game. A few years ago it was mah jong.
Later, the public fancy turned to bridge which still is going
strong. Cross-word puzzles, which originally were printed in
children's puzzle pages, become so popular that they became
almost a craze. Even jig-saw puzzles, long a children's favorite,
spread like wildfire. And from the east, through the medium
of the columnists such as O. O. Mclntyre and especially Alex-
ander Woolcott, comes news of society's having taken up with
old-fashioned backgammon, tiddldy-winks, and most modem
of them all, War and Monopoly.
No doubt, the fact that the modern machine has given man-
kind more leisure time than he had been previously accustomed
to, accounts in part for this sudden desire for playing g^mes.
Then, again, with so much unemployment extant, the people
who find time weighing heavily on their hands, spend their
unemployed hours either in self improvement or in playing
games. Whatever the reason may be, the fact remains that
people want to play games.
Therefore, it can readily be seen that a book of this nature,
coming at this time, can be quite invaluable to any group of
people. For, here, in this booklet, are enough tricks to while
away hours of time in real pleasure. Nothing, it seems, is so
pleasurable as being mystified. This accounts for the amazing
sales of mystery books and the success of such mystery plays
as "The Cat and the Canary," "The Seven Keys to Baldpate,"
and the "Charley Chan" chain of books and movies.
There is enough material in this book to mystify .any num-
ber of people. Naturally, as is the case in doing anything right,
it is essential that these tricks be learned perfectly so that
they can be performed with ease and without revealing the
method of trickery. This ease can be accomplished only by
hard work and practice. PRACTICE, that is the fundamental
secret of learning how to do card-tricks. Especially should the
beginner practice the basic principles of the "pass" the "force'*
and the "false shufiSe" as they are outlined and explained in
this book. Once these tricks are learned^ and learned right,
the rest of the tricks simply fall in line.
However, it is quite possible that the person who Items
how to manipulate cards in intricate card-tricks may be able
to derive from his skill more than merely the satisfaction of
giving his friends pleasure. Having perfected himself so that
his trickery is smooth and suave and flawless, there is no rea-
son why he shouldn't be able to commercialize on his ability.
Now, more than ever, card-trick magicians are being used in
vaudeville shows and especially in cabarets, night-clubs and
hotel reviews. Cardini, one of the greatest card-tricksters, earns
a handsome salary with his marvellous ability at sleight-of-
hand. Fred Keating whose tricks are still remembered when
card-tricks are discussed, earned not only a handsome salary
but a movie contract in Holl3rwood. Clubs, lodges, ccHiven-
tions, taverns and stags are constantly hiring card-men to
amuse them. There is money in card-tricks. But the performer
must be an expert. And, the only way to become an expert is
by constant PRACTICE.
The following card-tricks have been chosen so that they
may be performed by anyone. Some are so simple that any
beginner can do them immediately. Others require more time
and patience and understanding.
Above all, remember that the card-trickster's art depends
on keeping the eyes of his audience from the manipulations
of his hands. The old saying that the hand is quicker than
the eye is not true. The eye is far more quicker than the hand.
But, it is posible to prevent the eye from seeing what the
performer does not want it to see. This is done by distraction
which means, simply, taking away the attention. The best way
to distract is to keep up a steady line of chatter. If you are
witty, make your chatter humorous. If not, chatter anyhow.
But chatter. Keep up a steady stream of gab. In doing this,
you prevent the audience from concentrating on your trick.
So on with the tricks. Let the applause and m3rstery fall
where they may! —
^HUGH MOBRIS.
CARD TRICKS
84
Trick No. i.—THE ALL-IMPORTANT "PASS"
The basic card-trick, the one which most sleight-of-hand
card-tricks use,, is called l*the pass." This is simply a shifting
of the cards while pretending to shuffle them so that the bottom
card, which is open and therefore known, is brought to the
top and closed. When this "pass" has been accomplished,
the operator knows the top card and is therefore in a position
to perform a number of tricks with it. Practice, in this as in
everything, will give great dexterity to the operator; and he
will be able to go through the movement without exposing it
to his audience.
The following method of "mak-
ing the pass" must be well prac-
ticed. (1) Hold the pack of cards
in your left hand so that the palm
of your hand is under the cards.
(2) Place the thumb of that hand
on one side of the pack; the first,
second and third fingers on the
other side, and your little finger
between those cards that are to be
brought to the top and the rest of
the pack (see Fig. 1). (3) Then
place your right hand over the
cards, as in Fig. 2, shielding the
front of the deck as much as pos- Making the ''Pass"*
sible. (4) Having done this, draw off the lower cards^ held
down by the little finger and the other parts of the left hand,
and slide them quickly on the top of the pack.
Before trying any of the tricks that depend on "making the
pass" be sure that, with a great deal of practice, you have
mastered this "pass" so that you can perform it without allow-
ing any of the audience to notice the quick movement of your
hand which has brought the bottom card, which you know,
to the top. Everything depends on the success of this trick
and, unless it is done perfectly, any other trick which you may
wish to perform will be impossible.
6 84 CARD TRICKS
Trick No. 2.—DECEPTIVE SHUFFLES
There are three kinds of deceptive shuffles* The first way is
to mix all the cards excepting one, of which you never lose
sight. To do this you must (1) put it on top the pack, (2)
then take it in the right hand, keeping the balance of the pack
in the left; (3) with the thumb of this last hand, slip into the
right hand five or six other cards upon this known card, and
on these last five or six again, and so on until all the pack is
found in your right hand. By this means the reserved card
will be found at the bottom, and if at the moment (4) you
return the whole pack into the left hand excepting only the
uppermost card, (5) you can pass successively all the cards
from the left to the right hand, by placing the cards alternately
above and below the aforesaid uppermost card, until you reach
the reserved card, (6) which you put on the top, or the bottom^
as circumstances require.
The second deceptive shuffle is done by (1) taking from the
right hand, the upper half of a pack held in the left. (2) Then
move quickly the annular (that is, the finger to the right of
the middle finger) finger of the right hand, to allow the cards
to slip without mixing their order. Notice: First, that after
having moved the cards of a pack with the annular finger of
the right hand, it is necessary to place beneath the pack in the
right hand a card, and one or two others immediately following
it, to make it appear as though some were left underneath.
These, however, must be brought back under the package in
the left hand. Second, that the package in the left hand, which
was in the first instance beneath, and which is actually above,
ought to be taken into the right hand to be returned slowly
to its first place.
The third deceptive shuffle is done by (1) making the pass
to keep the cards in the right hand, and to divide the smaller
portion into three other little packages, of which the first falls
upon the table, the second to the right, and the third to the
left. (2) The upper half is then placed in the middle. (3)
Should you place on this half, the packages of the right and the
left, while following the same order, and using alternately the
right hand and the left, for greater quickness, making it
appear that you are shuffling by chance and without trickery,
the cards, while appearing to be mixed up, will be found never
84 CARD TRICKS 7
to have changed places. All these deceptive shuffles can be
mastered with very little practice.
Trick No. i.—FORCING A CARD
•In card tricks, it is often necessary to "force a card," that is,
to compel a person to take the card you want him to take al-
though he imagines he is picking one of his own choice. The
following is perhaps the best method of performing this trick:
(1) Find out quietly, or while you are amusing yourself with
the cards, what the card is which you are to force. Keep it in
sight, or place the little finger of yourJeft hand, in which you
hold the pack, on it. (2) Then ask a person to select a card
from the pack. Open it quickly from left to right, spreading
the cards backwards and forwards so as to mix him up. (3)
When you see him about to take one, open the pack until you
come to that one which you intend him to have. (4) Just at
the moment his fingers are touching the pack, let that card's
comer stick out invitingly a little forward in front of the
others. This will seem so fair that in nine cases out of ten he
will take the one so offered, unless he himself knows the secret
of forcing. (5) Having by this method forced your card on
him, you may ask him to examine it, and then give him the
pack to shuffle, which he may do as often as he likes because
you already know the card he has chosen. A perfect knowl-
edge of forcing is absolutely necessary before you try the
more difficult tricks with cards
Trick No 4.—THE "LONG CARD'^
Another basic trick used in performing many of the follow-
ing tricks is called the "Long Card." This is, a card either a
trifle longer or wider than the rest of the pack, which is
not noticeable to the eye of the spectator, but which is easily
distinguished by the touch of the operator. Good operators
sometimes have both wider and longer cards in the pack. Any
bookbinder or printer will shave the edges of your pack so as
to leave you a long and a wide card.
The above, then, are the basic tricks which are necessary to
the performance of the following card-tricks. Above all, the
point must be emphasized that the success of your trick de-
pends entirely on the practice that you have given these basic
S 84 CARD TRICKS
principles. Once you have perfected yourself by practice, you
need only a knowledge of simple numbers, a few pieces of ap-
paratus which can either be made at home or purchased in
magic and novelty shops, and the quick supple fingers of a
violinist or pianist. It is a very good idea to keep your fingers
supple by doing as the violinist does, that is, by practicing
continually in your spare time. Carry a deck of cards around
with you and practice "the pass." You will find that, in a
very short time, your fingers will be supple enough to perform
the trick without detection.
Trick No. 5.—THE DIVINING CARD
(1) Prepare a pack in which there is a long card; (2) open
it to where the long card is, and present the pack to ^ person
so that he will naturally draw that card. (3) Then tell him to
put it into one part of the pack, and shuffle the cards. (4) Then
take the same pack, and offer them in like manner to the second
and tliird person, taking care that they do not stand near
enough to each other to see the card each other draws.
(S) You then draw several cards yourself, among which
is the long caid. and ask each of the people if his card be
among those cards. He will naturally say yes, as they have
all drawn the same card. (6) You then shuffle all the cards
together, cutting them at the long card. (7) You hold it before
the first person so that others may not see it, and tell him
that it is his card. (8) You then put it in the pack, shuffle it,
and cut it again at the same card, and hold it to the second
person, and so to the rest.
You can perform this trick without the long card as follows:
(1) Let any person draw a card, and replace it in the pack.
(2) You then make the pass, and bring that card to the top
of the pack, and shuffle them without losing sight of that card.
(3) Then offer that card to the second person so that he may
draw it and put it in the middle of the pack. (4) Make the
pass, and shuffle the cards the second time in the same manner,
and offer the card to the third person, continuing until all the
people have been duped.
Trick No. d.—THE BOOTLEGGED CARD
To smuggle a card; (1) hold it between the index and middle
finger of the right hand. (2) Hold the rest of the pack in the
