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Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781466945876 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Trafford Publishing |
| Publication date: | 08/22/2012 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 405 KB |
Read an Excerpt
OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE
CLASSIC CARD TRICKS SPECTACULARLY RE-WORKEDBy STUART LEE
Trafford Publishing
Copyright © 2010 Stuart LeeAll right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4669-4586-9
Chapter One
Preparation
To perform the routine you require two packs of cards of identical design but with different coloured backs. For the purposes of description in this book it will be assumed that one pack has Blue-backed cards and that the other pack is Red-backed – but any two colours are suitable.
The routine has as its foundation two tricks where the cards in the pack have been arranged (or "stacked") before the performance to produce particular outcomes. In addition, if you choose to use a bridged card to control the cutting of the pack you must produce such a card for each of the packs. (A definition of what is meant by a "bridged card" is given in the previous chapter.) You should note, however, that the tricks can be performed without the use of such a card and details of how this is done are given with the instructions for the individual tricks in the relevant chapters.
If you do choose to produce bridged cards for each of the packs they should be given a convex bridge along their length, ie. the pressure to produce the bridge should be applied to the sides of the cards. Any of the 52 cards in the pack may be bridged, but preferably the card should be easily recognised and remembered by the performer. A suitable card for a Blue-backed pack would be the King of Spades (KS) and for a Red-backed pack a suitable card would be the Queen of Diamonds (QD). Only a very light bridge is required to produce the necessary effect and instructions on how to create such a bridge and how to use the card in the handling of the pack are set out in the relevant section of the chapter on "Handling and Sleights-of-Hand".
Having produced the bridged cards you can now move on to the arrangement of the packs for the first two tricks of the routine.
Begin by arranging (or "stacking") the Blue-backed pack or the pack you intend to use for the trick "Think of a Card – Spell Another". To do this you require in addition to the 52 cards of the pack four identical Joker cards with the same pattern and colour backs and four blank-faced cards with the same backs. The Joker cards in the Waddington "No 1" packs (both Bridge-size packs and the Poker-size packs) are identical and as such would require you to obtain only two packs of either size to produce four identical Joker cards. In the other packs the Joker cards differ (being either of a different design or one being "red" and the other "black") so to produce four identical Joker cards you would need to obtain four packs. With regard to the blank-faced cards these can be purchased for the "Bicycle Rider Back" pack and for the Piatnik "Classic" pack but you will need to make them yourself if you intend to use either the Waddington or the W.H. Smith pack. This can be done using self-adhesive address labels trimmed to size. It might be thought the finish and handling of such doctored cards would attract attention and suspicion but you will see when you come to study the details of the trick in which they are used that this is not so.
Having obtained your four identical Blue-backed Joker cards and your four Blue-backed blank faced cards proceed to arrange the Blue-backed pack:
a. The pack is arranged face-down. (Top) Joker – any 17 cards – Joker – any 8 cards and a bridged card (or any 8 cards if you are not using a bridged card) – 6C – 10C – AC – 2C – AH – 10H – 2H – JC – JH – JS – 4S – 5H – 8S – QS – QH – 3S – KD – 5D – JD – 9D – 3D – 7D – 8D – QD – any 2 cards (or any 3 cards if you are not using a bridged card).
b. Place the arranged pack in the appropriate carton and put it aside.
You will have left out of the carton two identical Blue-backed Joker cards and four Blue-backed blank-faced cards which you will need later.
You can now turn your attention to pre-arranging (or "stacking") the Red-backed pack. Before you begin make sure that you have four Red-backed Joker cards (they do not need to be identical) and four Red-backed blank-faced cards. Then begin to pre-arrange the pack as follows:
c. Separate the 52 cards of the pack and order each suit with the cards face-down as follows:
Hearts/Diamonds:
Top: 3 – 8 – 7 – A – Q – 6 – 4 -2 – J – K – 10 – 9 – 5
Spades/Clubs:
Top: 2 – K – 10 – Q – 7 – 3 – 4 – 9 – 5 – A – 6 – 8 – J
d. Riffle shuffle Hearts into Spades, ensuring that 5H is the bottom card of the riffled packet. (For an explanation of how this is done, see the relevant section in the chapter "Handling and Sleights-of-Hand".)
e. Riffle shuffle Diamonds into Clubs ensuring that JC is the bottom card of the riffled packet.
f. Place two of the Red-backed Joker cards beneath the 5H and then place the Hearts/Spades riffled packet on top of the other riffled packet.
g. Place the arranged pack in the appropriate carton and put it aside.
You should now have left two identical Blue-backed Jokers, two Red-backed Jokers, four Blue-backed blank-faced cards and four Red-backed blank-faced cards. Thoroughly mix them and place them between the two cartons of cards.
The two packs are now arranged (or "stacked") ready for the first two tricks of the routine described in the following chapters.
The Routine
Probably the best piece of advice that can be given with regard to card magic is to learn and know a small number of tricks thoroughly rather than a great number of tricks superficially. And the next best piece of advice is that the tricks once learned should be used within a set framework. The first piece of advice ensures that the actual performance of the tricks becomes an almost automatic operation, allowing the performer to concentrate his or her attention on the presentation of the effect. The advantages that accrue from the second piece of advice are that any pressure or distraction in having to decide during the performance what comes next is removed and the tricks can be pre-ordered in such a way as to build on each other.
The information set out in this chapter is a basis on which the courses of action recommended above can be achieved. Firstly, it provides a grouping of tricks from which the routine can be derived and the routine can be as short or as long as the circumstances of the performance require. Secondly, it provides a framework that, although pre-ordered, still allows flexibility when that is desirable.
If you examine the general overview of the routine set out on the opposite page, you will see that it has as its foundation two tricks where the cards in the packs have been arranged in a particular order (or "stacked") before the performance to produce a particular effect and that each effect is related to a particular colour indicated by the colour of the back of the pack. In addition there are four other blocks of tricks and you will note that these blocks contain tricks that can be performed with any pack of cards. It is thus possible to begin a routine with either one of the tricks which depend for their effect on the pre-arrangement of the pack and to follow this trick, using the same pack, with a series of tricks which require no prearrangement of the pack. In doing so you are lessening the likelihood that the spectators will suspect that the pack was initially stacked, even more so, if, before it was used, it was cut or mixed as explained in the appropriate section of the chapter on "Handling and Sleights-of-Hand."
This is the basis on which a routine is built and an example will serve to show the flexibility available to suit any circumstances.
The performance begins with the two packs in their cartons on the table and with the mixed packet of Joker cards and blank-faced cards at the side of them.
Given that the spectators do not know what trick is connected with which title or pack (and they never should) the routine begins as follows:
"Now, I have some amazing tricks to show you:
The first is ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE. The second is IMPOSSIBLE. The third is EVEN MORE IMPOSSIBILE. The fourth is THE MOST IMPOSSIBLE CARD TRICK IN THE WORLD. And the fifth is BEYOND THE IMPOSSIBLE.
Now, which one would you like first? (The spectators choose)
And which pack would you like me to do it with? (The spectators choose)
Right – here we go."
You now perform the trick associated with the prearranged pack they have chosen and then continue the routine as follows:
"Well, you've had that trick – which one do you want next? (You list the remaining "impossible" tricks and the spectators choose)
And which pack do you want me to use?"
If the spectators choose the pack you have just used for the first trick you go immediately into the first trick of any of the "four-trick any-pack" blocks. If the spectators choose the second pre-arranged pack you perform the trick associated with that pack and then go into the first trick of any of the "four-trick any-pack" blocks.
The situation now is that you have performed two "impossible" tricks – either two pre-arranged tricks or one trick with a pre-arranged pack and one any-pack trick. You then proceed with further any-pack tricks to complete the sequence of five "impossible" tricks. If the spectators have chosen only one of the pre-arranged packs you will have performed all the tricks with that one pre-arranged pack. However, at any point at which the spectators choose the other pre-arranged pack you will perform the trick associated with that pack. In any case, you perform the sequence of five "impossible" tricks.
If you then wish to extend the performance you suggest that you use both packs and proceed to the "two-pack trick" and / or, if you think it appropriate, you may complete the performance with "just one final trick".
All of this then is the framework on which you can build a routine that suits you and the circumstances of the occasion.
Initially, you should concentrate your efforts on mastering the two tricks using the pre-arranged packs and one block of "four-trick any-pack" tricks. Thus you will have at your disposal from the very beginning a routine of up to six tricks based on the two pre-arranged packs (enough for most occasions), and if you are suddenly handed a pack of cards and asked to perform, you have up to four tricks immediately available. This is the firm base on which you can extend to the full repertoire of thirteen tricks.
One final observation: learn and perform the tricks in the "four-trick any-pack" blocks in the order in which they are given. There are two reasons for this. The first is that in doing so you will find them easier to remember and when performing you will be relieved of the pressure of deciding what trick to do next. The second is that they are ordered in such a way that one trick leads naturally into the next and in the case of "Miraskill Denied" and "Can You Believe It" the first trick sets up the cards to allow you to perform the second trick.
Now, armed with your two packs and with the tricks you have perfected you are ready to produce some magic with cards.
So, on to the tricks.
The Pre-Arranged Tricks
"Blue Pack" – "Think of A Card – Spell Another"
Effect
Cards are dealt randomly to produce four 8-card hands. Each spectator has a free choice of any one of these hands from which they mentally select one card each. Eventually, they spell out their thought-of card from another 8-card packet without revealing the card. When the two cards are revealed they discover they have spelled out each other's card.
Performance
1. You begin by asking the spectator to sort out the four Blue-backed blank-faced cards from the eight blank-faced cards and the two Blue-backed Joker cards from the four Joker cards. You take these cards and place them in front of yourself. The Red-backed blank-faced cards and Joker cards you place aside.
2. You now take the Blue-backed carton and take out the cards, taking care not to disturb the order of the cards. Having done so, you perform a false cut followed by a false mix of the pack (see the relevant sections in the chapter on "Handling and Sleights-of-Hand"). If you choose not to perform these moves you merely place the pack face-down on the table.
3. Explain that to perform the trick you require four Joker cards so you will need to extract the two Joker cards from the pack. However, rather than just going through it to find them, you "will try a little magic".
4. Invite a spectator to cut off about the top half of the pack and place it face-down on the table. Point out that as there are two Joker cards in the pack there will be 54 cards in the pack and that half the pack would be 27 cards. Pick up the packet the spectator has placed on the table and count it out face-down into a pile on the table. (In doing this you are reversing the order of the cards – see the definition of "counting the cards reversing their order" in the "Introduction".)
5. If on the count you have 27 cards, well and good. If you have more than 27 cards stop the counting at 27 and return the extra cards to the top of the other half of the pack without reversing their order. If you have less than 27 cards in the count make up the number by taking cards off the top of the other half of the pack one at a time and placing them on the face-down pile.
6. Take the cards you have counted out and neaten up the pile. Then instruct the spectator to cut the pile roughly in half and to keep the cards he or she has cut off. You take the bottom part of the pile and place it to one side.
7. Now instruct the spectator to deal out the cards he or she has into a face-down pile on the table, counting them as he or she does so. Take the number arrived at and add the two digits of the numbers together to give a single digit number (ie. 14 = 1 + 4 = 5). The spectator then takes the pile of cards from the table, counts down in the pile to the card at that number placing each card face-down in a pile on the table. He or she then takes the card at the top of the cards of the packet from which he or she is counting and places it face-down in front of him- or herself. You take the cards that the spectator has left, pick up the pile you placed aside at paragraph 6, and place these cards on top of the cards you have taken from the spectator. You then place this combined packet below the cards that the spectator counted off and then place all the cards on top of the other "half" of the pack.
8. You now repeat the procedure set out in paragraphs 4-7 to find the second Joker. However, this time you count only 26 cards.
9. Turn over the two face-down cards. They are the two Joker cards you required. Confirm that as you now have four Joker cards you can "get on with the trick".
10. Take the packet you re-constituted at paragraph 8 and ask the spectator whether he or she wishes it to be placed on top or at the bottom of the cards you put aside at paragraph 6. Do as the spectator wishes, pointing out that this now gives you a complete pack of 52 cards. Place the pack face-down in front of yourself on the table. (If you are using a bridged card to control the cutting of the cards you should note that this card was the top card of the cards you put aside at paragraph 6. If you are not using a bridged card you should glimpse and remember the identity of the card which is at the bottom of the reconstituted packet from paragraph 7.) 11. You now take the four Joker cards and place them facedown on the table as the bottom cards of what will be four separate face-down piles.
12. Now turn the pack face-up and spread it to show the mix of the cards. Having done so, you turn it face down and cut and complete (for a definition of "cut and complete" see the "Introduction"). You then invite the spectators to cut and complete, at will. Finally, you cut the bridged card to the bottom of the pack or if you are not using a bridged pack you turn the pack face-up and spread it to show the mix of the cards – as you do so you split the pack to take the card you noticed at paragraph 10 to what will be the bottom of the face-down pack – you then turn the pack face-down.
13. You begin to deal out the pack placing a card face-down in turn onto each of the face-down Joker cards taking instructions from the spectators as to the order in which the cards are placed. In other words, you will deal out 24 cards – one in turn onto each Joker card, the order of dealing in each four-card group being determined by the spectators. You continue until you have dealt out six cards onto each Joker card. As you deal each card you show it to the spectators telling them that eventually they are going to have to note and remember one of them. (You do not look at the cards yourself – unless there is only one spectator in which case you are acting in place of a second spectator.)
14. When the deal is completed place a blank-faced card facedown – one on each pile of face-down cards.
15. You now invite the spectator or the spectators to decide which piles will be paired. (The trick will work for any two hands.)
16. When this has been done you pick up each pile in turn and deal them out face-down onto the table, showing each card in turn to the spectator whose pile it is. This, you tell him or her, is to allow him or her to see the cards again and this time to select one mentally and to remember it. You point out that they may, if they wish, select the "Joker Card" or "The Invisible Card" (ie. the blank-faced card). (In doing this you are, in fact, reversing the order of the cards into the order required to perform the trick. You place the cards face-down in each pile not looking at them yourself – unless you are acting as a second spectator. In which case the pile you look at will be Pile B – see paragraph 18.)
17. The piles are now treated in pairs between the spectators or between you and one spectator. Each pair is handled separately as a pair as described below.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from OLD WINE IN A NEW BOTTLE by STUART LEE Copyright © 2010 by Stuart Lee. Excerpted by permission of Trafford Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
Contents
Introduction....................viiPreparation....................1
The Routine....................5
The Pre-Arranged Tricks....................11
"Blue Pack" – "Think of A Card – Spell Another"....................11
"Red Pack" – "Shuffle Spell"....................19
The Any-Pack Tricks....................25
"Miraskill Denied"....................25
"Can You Believe It?"....................29
"Prime Cut Selection"....................34
"Divination"....................37
"Certain Card Snap"....................41
"Think of An Ace"....................45
"A Magic Number"....................52
"Real Magic"....................55
The Two-Pack Trick....................59
"Nobody Knows Anything"....................59
The Final Tricks....................63
"Same Number – Same Card"(for one spectator)....................63
"Everybody Shouts"(for two or more spectators)....................68
Handling and Sleights-of-Hand....................75
The Overhand Shuffle....................76
The Riffle Shuffle and Controls....................78
The Charlier Shuffle and Controls....................79
Creating and Handling a Bridged Card....................81
False Cuts....................86
A False Shuffle....................87
A False Mix of the Pack....................88
Transferring Bottom Card to Top by a Cut or a Mix....................89
Transferring Top Card to Bottom by a Cut or a Mix....................91
The Cut Deeper Force....................92
Magician's Choice....................93
Sources and Background....................95
A Basic Reference Library....................95
The Background to the Tricks....................96
Arranging a Stack for Spelling or Dealing....................117