The Invisible Card
As
you'll see in my cut-and-pasted description
of this routine from my lecture notes, it's
one I've been doing for years and years and
years. The mechanics of the routine are not
original with me, but the entire presentation
has been honed for all of those years. It's
a wonderful routine that doesn't do much for
magicians but which laymen really react to.
It allows you to interact with them, it provides
opportunities for humor, and it contains 3 distinct
effects.
The mechanics
of the routine were shown to me in the 1970's
by an acquaintance in NYC named Howard Bash.
Since writing the lecture notes, I have been
trying to track down the history of the trick.
Recently I acquired Richard Hatch's excellent
translation of Robert Giobbi's Card College
3, and I immediately recognized the routine
on page 523 which is also called "The Invisible
Card" and is remarkably similar to the routine
you are about to read. Giobbi credits the original
routine to a Dick Ferguson (penned as Richard
Bruce) in the "Sept. 1951 issue of Hugard's
Magic Monthly, Vol. IX, No. 4, page 835."
Although I have many original HMM's my library
does not contain this specific issue. I'd love
it if any GMN'er would send me a copy of just
the pages of this issue that describe Mr. Ferguson's
routine. Giobbi also mentioned in CC3 that his
presentation was based on a routine by George
Kaplan from The Fine Art of Magic on
page 110. Curiously, this routine is titled,
"The Lie Detector" and bears little resemblance
to "The Invisible Card" with regard to mechanics
or presentation - perhaps something was - literally
- lost in the translation? Jeff Busby had also
given me a veiled reference to a routine by
Elmer Biddle called "Trenscendent" - if any
GMN'er's have access to that routine I'd also
love a copy!
Finally,
after I lectured in Baltimore last September,
GMN's own Eric Henning took a liking to the
below routine but personalized the patter wonderfully!
He has graciously consented to allow me to include
his patter as part of this column. Thanks Eric!
As usual,
if there are any questions about the routine
please don't hesitate to contact me here on
GeMiNi or by via email at pcummins@leading.net
Thanks,
and enjoy!
THE INVISIBLE CARD
This
venerable routine has been in my repertoire
since the early 1970's, and I still perform
it today. It was shown to me in a basic form
by a fellow teenager named Howard Bash at a
meeting of I.M.P.S. (International Magical Performers
Society, presided over by Arnold Belais of Multiplying
Pipe fame) in New York City. I have not seen
or heard from Howard Bash for over twenty years,
but I'll always thank him for starting me on
this routine. Over the years and during countless
performances, it has evolved, more presentationally
than technically, into the following.
Taking
a shuffled deck in use, have a card selected
and shown around. Hold the deck for a jog shuffle
and chop off about a quarter of the deck. Extend
that quarter-deck for the spectator to replace
the selection. Start to jog shuffle, running
two cards onto the selection and then injogging
the third. Shuffle off onto the injog. Hold
the deck in dealing position in your left hand
and lift up on the injog, creating a pinky break
below it (and over the two cards above the selection).
Ask,
"...have you ever seen an invisible card...?"
Ninety nine percent of the time the answer will
be "no." To which you reply, "...I'm not surprised,
they're hard to see...!" Should your spectator
answer "yes", then reply, "...I see, well some
would say you're crazier than me...!" In either
case, continue with: "...I'm going to try to
narrow down the deck until I land on the card
you're thinking of..." Cut the top half of the
deck to the table (or into a spectator's hand
if no table is available), "...I don't think
it's in this half, but I'm kinda guessing..."
Begin
spreading through the face down cards in hand
and separate the spread when you reach the break.
Push over the next five cards and flip them
face up onto the left- hand quarter-packet.
Place the spread cards in your right hand underneath
the left- hand cards. "...I'll take four or
five cards here, and I'll show them to you.
Don't tell me which card is yours; just let
me know if it's in this group or not, because
if it's not in the group - we'd do the whole
rest of this trick for nothing...!" Take the
left-hand half deck into your right hand from
above. You will peel the five face up cards
into your left hand, naming each one as you
peel it. Keep a left pinky break below the third
card peeled, the selection, and remember its
name. When peeling the fourth card, pick up
the selection below the right hand packet (this
is the Reverse Biddle). Continuing, peel the
fifth card onto the left-hand group. The most
important aspect of all false counts is rhythm,
and this one is no exception - the naming and
peeling of the cards should be done in cadence
and without pause. Ask, "...is your card in
this group...?" Your audience will answer positively.
Act a little surprised, "...it is? Well, so
far..... so what...?"
Motivated
by the need to handle the small packet in your
left hand, place the right hand packet face
down onto the tabled half deck (or onto the
half held by the spectator). This unobtrusive
action centralizes the selection face up in
the deck. Turn the small packet face down and
count four as five using the reverse biddle
again, to wit: Pick up the packet from above
with your right hand and peel off the top card
into your left hand, "one." Peel the second
card onto the first, "two," but keep a left
pinky break below this card. As you peel the
third card and count "three," pick up (or, Reverse
Biddle) the second card counted. Count and peel
the fourth card, and finally drop the last right
hand card onto the left-hand packet.
Regrip
the cards in your left hand at the fingertips
and raise that hand up to eye level so that
you are looking right at the near, short end
of the packet. Slip your left forefinger to
the face of the packet and press up slightly.
Use a sure grip with your left thumb and fingers
on the long sides of the packet. Now bring your
right hand over the packet from above and grip
it by the ends. Let two cards riffle off your
right thumb and bend the top two cards up briskly
so that you can see into the packet. Look at
the spectator, look back into the packet, and
make a silent decision. "...would you hold out
your hand palm up, please...?" She does. Keeping
the top two cards of the packet bent up, twist
your right wrist counter clockwise until your
right forefinger can enter the packet. Pull
your right thumb and forefinger out of the packet
toward you as if they held a card by the short
end. Simultaneously, apply extra pressure with
your left forefinger - the packet will literally,
and audibly, SNAP shut.
Indicate
your right hand, "...this is the invisible card
I was talking about when we started..." Place
the invisible card onto the spectator's outstretched
palm. "...don't drop it or we'll never find
it..!" Pause a beat or two and, depending on
your audience, you can get a laugh out of a
gentle tease of the spectator holding the invisible
card.
"...If
I have five cards and give you one, how
many does that leave me...?" The spectator will
answer "four." "...exactly...which means I have
four left..." Spread the packet and take the
top two face down cards into your right fingers.
Use your thumbs to move the top card of each
pair in a circular motion against the back of
the bottom card of each pair, visually demonstrating
that there are only four cards in your hands.
This is a strong vanish!
Flip
all four cards face up into your left hand and
ask, "...are any of these your card..?" Your
audience will respond negatively. Table these
four cards (or hand them to someone). Pretend
to pick up the invisible card from the spectator's
hand from above with your right hand. Turn your
hand palm toward you, as if you were looking
at the face of the `invisible' card, as you
say, "...good, then it must've been the....Four
of Hearts...!", naming the selection that you
noted during the initial Reverse Biddle count.
Although the audience knows you are putting
them on at this point, they have been (time)
misdirected from the fact that you looked at
the five cards, and they'll be surprised that
you know the name of their selection.
Replace
the `invisible' card onto the spectator's palm,
"...I know this seems crazy but pick up the
card and turn it over so it's face up..." Mime
for the spectator what you want them to do with
your own hands. Then pick up the deck and lift
off about twenty cards (or thirty, just don't
accidentally cut to the reversed selection).
"...and slide it into the deck..." Let them
pretend to slide the invisible card into the
open deck. Plop the twenty cards back onto the
left half "...so we can prove to everyone that
neither one of us is crazy because if that's
where you put it...." perform a wide face down
ribbon spread (or pressure fan, if no table
is available), "...that's where we'll find it..!!!"
Although
this is simple in effect and undemanding technically,
it may be done anywhere with any deck in almost
any condition. The by-play and participation
with the spectator is fun and the effect is
a fooler. In fact, laypersons actually see three
effects: the vanish of their selection, the
fact that you name the selection even though
it is nowhere to be found, and the reappearance
of the selection face up in the deck that has
been out of play since the very beginning of
the routine.
Eric Henning's Patter
Script for The Invisible Card
Have
a card selected and shuffled back into the
deck as in Paul's routine.
"Now,
you have a small problem -- you need to remember
your card. But I have a big problem -- I have
to remember all fifty-two cards! I must confess
I have a terrible memory. With all the things
to remember today -- Social Security numbers,
telephone numbers, faxes, cell phones, pagers,
email addresses, computer passwords, PIN numbers
-- I'm surprised anyone can remember a chosen
card. I certainly can't keep track of fifty-two.
Fortunately, I've found some techniques to
help my memory that might help yours, too."
"The
first thing the experts say to do is reduce
the total number of things we have to remember.
So I'm going to try to narrow down the number
of cards we're dealing with to about five.
Now I'm going to show you five cards. Please
don't tell me your card, just tell me whether
it's one of these five..." Do the Reverse
Biddle sequence, naming the cards. "Is one
of these five yours? Good! We've just reduced
the total number of things we have to remember
from fifty-two to five." ..and driven home
the number "five" in the process.
"Here's
another tip: repetition. You've only seen
your card a couple of times, and after a short
time it's easy to forget it. It's almost as
if it's invisible. Here, let me show you.
You see? Your card's invisible -- would you
hold it for a moment, please? Thank you. Oh,
would you turn it around so I can see the
face please? Ah, I see -- it's the [name their
card]." Paul's right - this touch gets a huge
reaction and should not be ignored.
"Don't
worry -- it'll come back to you! Would you
toss your invisible card into the deck here?
Thanks. Meanwhile, when you have forgotten
something, it's almost as if it had vanished.
Look, I have only four cards here, and none
of them is yours. Which brings us to the final
tip. Once you've reduced the number of things
to remember, and still have trouble, just
make it different from everything else around
it." Spread the cards on the table, revealing
their selection face-up in the deck. "That's
how to improve your memory."
I hope
you give this routine a turn - it's worked wonderfully
for me for many years, simple as it is. This
routine and many others are available to GMN'er's
at 20% off the cover price of $25.00 when purchasing
my lecture notes, "...from a shuffled deck in
use..." I happily pay the postage worldwide.
As usual,
I welcome any comments on the above routine
or any others that have been posted to GeMiNi.
Paul
W. Cummins
3703 Foxcroft Road
Jacksonville, FL
32257 USA
Paul
