Out Of
This (Joker) World
by
Mike Rogers
This
handling of Out Of This World was shown to me
by Harry Reed and Ed Turner (Arlane) in Philadelphia
back in 1959. Both had collected several jokers
as a result of removing them from new decks.
What follows can be used for Out Of This World
using red and black cards as in the standard
version; however, it looks real neat using the
jokers and separating the red backs from the
blue backs.
I take
no credit for this excellent routine. Harry
Reed is no longer living and I've lost touch
entirely with Ed Turner. My effort here is to
simply record their handling of what has become
a classic in card magic.
The routine
is unique and quite different from the Paul
Curry handling, though the end result is the
same. The spectator mentally separates the blue
backs from the red backs.
Start
with a deck of cards having nothing but jokers,
26 with red backs and 26 with blue backs. Have
a spectator shuffle the pack. After the shuffle,
and from this point on, the deck is always handled
face up with the jokers showing. Fan the deck
in your hands with the jokers facing the viewers
and the backs facing you. Remove one card of
each color and place, back side up, on the table
as "Leaders."
Now,
remove cards one at a time and have the spectator
tell you whether to place it on the blue leader,
or the red leader. Caution him not to tell you
until you have actually removed the card from
the fan. Though it appears you are randomly
removing cards you actually take cards of only
one color, let's say red backed. You place the
cards, face up, (joker side) on the leader of
his choice for each card. The cards are placed
in a ribbon spread as in the standard Curry
version.
Continue
this process until you have placed about twenty
cards on the table. In other words don't remove
all the red backs, just most of them. Close
the fan and hand the deck to the spectator asking
him to again shuffle. With a gesture of your
hands imply that you want him to overhand shuffle;
however, it doesn't matter how he shuffles.
It's just that an overhand shuffle doesn't mix
the cards quite as much. Good management is
necessary if he does a riffle shuffle, for you
want him to handle the cards face up. After
he has shuffled just once, take the pack back.
The point being, we don't want him to mix them
anymore than necessary.
Casually
show him the backs so he can see the cards are
"well" mixed. Do this quickly as you don't want
him to notice that most of the cards have blue
backs. Just a quick glance will do the job.
As long as he sees a few red backs mixed with
blue back s everything looks copasetic.
Again
fan the cards with the backs towards you. Now,
you have to do a bit of adjusting to place most,
but not all, of the blue backs to the left side
of the fan (in other words, they will be the
top cards when the fan is closed). This adjustment
is not difficult as there are very few red backs
remaining in the deck. You make the adjustment
as you remove two new "leader" cards. Place
these new leaders under the wrong colors just
as in the standard Out Of This World handling.
If you need to shift more than one or two cards
in the fan to establish a block of blue backs
to the left just act as if you want a certain
card for a leader, and then change your mind
inserting it back in the fan, then removing
another. This adjustment takes but a few seconds
and it looks quite natural.
Once
you have a large block of blue backs to the
left, close the fan and hand the talon to the
spectator, jokers up, and have him deal the
cards to the new leaders. When he has about
ten cards remaining in his hands stop him saying,
"It's not necessary to deal them all as it gets
a bit boring at some point." With that line
take the talon from him.
Verbally
recap what has been done. He has shuffled twice.
The cards were well mixed, and at this point
show him the remaining cards are WELL MIXED.
This is an extremely strong selling point. Remind
him that all the tabled cards are exactly where
he wanted them to be. He has to agree, as everything
is true.
You are
now set to reveal that every card on the table
matches it's leader. Finish as you would with
the standard Out Of This World handling.
Many
magicians have come up with various ways to
handle the clean up move. Here's how Harry Reed
did it, and it's the method I've always used.
Scoop up the spread of correct cards and flip
over the entire batch spreading them a bit as
you do. Instruct the spectator to look at them
to "See how he did." As he starts to look at
them his actions create perfect misdirection
for your clean up move. Scoop up the wrong color
batch, but leave the end leader on the table.
Flip over the scooped up cards and drop them
on top of the end leader. This swaps the leader
from one end to the other and the cards are
now correct.
It's a
great trick.
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