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Jeff Busby Enterprise Publisher • Distributor · lmporter Fine Magie Books and Props

133 SEVENTEENTH STREET

OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA 94612 U.S

THE BOOK OF JOHN The Close-Up Magie of John F. Mendoza

Written, lllustrated and Published by John F. Mendoza Copyright 1978. All rights reserved.

To Gugi, who in a brief time will become Julie and will never be my little Gugi Pie again, with all the love a Daddy can only try to give one who deserves so much more .

TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE - CARDS Topsy Turvy Aces Impossible Poker Demonstration The Uneral-Geniversal Card Routined Poker Mental The Simple Collectors Vice-Versa The Miller(?) Change Ligh tning Twisting the Aces Again The Quick Cull The D' Amico Spread All Gone Have You Ever Heard Of? On the Elevator CHAPTER TWO - COINS The Coin Routine (No. 1) The Co in Routine (No. 2) Sitting Speiibound II Standing Speiibound Mendoza Matrix CHAPTER THREE- RE-VISITATIONS The Automatie Deck The Lump of Coal (TLC) The Ultimate Torn & Restored Card The B ow I Routine CHAPTER FOUR - WITH THINGS YOU ALREADY OR SHOULD HAVE The Coin Casket The Card in the Wallet Interlude III The Chop Cup Steve France Copper, Silver, Brass ••• What a Gas! CHAPTER FIVE - THREE FRIENDS Scott Drake - Drake-trix Barry Nelson- The Flash Cups Barry Nelson- Jennings lmproved David Stahl· The World's Most Expensive Okito Box Routine CHAPTER SIX - TWO SPECIALS The First Stage of My Career The Ring Routine

1 7 16 19 24 27 29 31 33 35 37 42 47 49 54 62 65 70 72 78 83 86 92 98 101 103 105 108 110 114 116 119 121 126 128

lntroduction Thank you for purchasing this hook.

It is, in more ways than you realize, the

8 ook of) ohn . I wrote it, I layed it out, I composed it, I typeset it, I photographed it and, if I owned a press, I'm sure I would have printed it! It has caused me more grey than you can imagine. In the interim from when it was first written some three to four years ago, the original manuscript was misplaced, an additional manuscriptfor a second hook was written and comhined with the first to make a !arger hook, a hig city hinder kept us at the end of his production line, a local hinder went out of husiness taking money and printed manuscripts with him and the manuscript was re-done completely, re-written and re-typeset, hy yours truly! I should mention that I am not an experienced typeseHer or hook composer. If you have complaints ahout the actual production ofthe hook .. hlame me, not the printer. All he did was reproduce that which I gave him. I admit it is not as professional as was the first manuscript as the printing company typeset it, hut to have that done again would have cost me ahout $3,000 in addition to what had already heen spent and I just plain ran out of money! The hook was advertised hy many, with my hlessings at 200 pages. It has 134 num bered pages. That numhering does not include introduction, closing and photo pages as did the first printed manuscript. Additionally, this difference is due to the fact that I unknowingly used a smaller print size and composed the vertical line spacing some four points closer than the printer. F our points is small, hut when you add to it the difference in type size and multiply it hy 40 lines times 200 pages, it adds up. It is the sam e hook, only compressed smaller. It is spiral hound hecause of the last line, first paragraph. As it is, it cost me twice the typesetting cost, a loss of deposit to the firm that went out of husiness and many, many hours of my own time finishing it. If it is any compensation, it will he easier to learn from and that is really what this hook was intended for. Forthose of you who had purchased it as a lihrary piece with no intention of ever reading or learning from it, I apologize . Now ahout the hook material itself. I claim little originality for any of it. I do, howev.er, claim full responsihility for the routining of each effect. All of the items have rea lly. honestly heen audience-tested in front of pay ing audiences. These are the routines that earn my living. The term "audience-tested' ' has joined "ultimate " and "quality " which have hecome meaningless adjectives jaded hy and mistrusted due to over-use hy advertisers. In this case, however, it is not a word I use frivolously. I have personally used these routines many times and anyone who has seen me work at any campus will verify this. The last thing I would like to say is that the original manuscript was written some time ago. So, some material may seem old and, in some cases, even previously puhlished. F or example, when I wrote "Mendoza Matrix, " nohody was producing a hig coin climax at the end of an assemhly. Dingled closed his with the appearance of an unexpected s iluer dollar s ized coin, hut nohody produced a 3" coin. Neither , at that

time, had the obvious evolution of using the Schneider pickup move to show two of the four coins where they should be prior to their assembly, seen the light of print. So, the material was not old when it was written, but, perhaps, more importantly, it is still totally new to both laymen and magicians who see it now. Ask anyone who attended my lectures in Chicago, Milwaukee or Minneapolis and they will verify this fact for you. There are still things around that are many years old that will nail you if you've never seen them before. Try each item. Give it a chance. They didn't produce startling results for me on the first trial either, but they will if given the attention they deserve. I gues I'm becoming prolific as this book was preceeded by The Mendoza Cups and Balls, The Ultimate Tom 6 Restored Card, TheAutomatic Deckand Don'tStall: Stah I! The lnnouatiue Mag ic of Dau id Stah I and forthcoming are three more manuscripts, very low-priced, two on cards and one on coins, a balloon book by one of the finest balloon workers I know (and a close friend and confidant of Roger Siegel,) another book on the close-up magic of one of the finest young "purist" sleight-ofhand performers I have ever had the pleasure to meet, a book on the inside of ma.gic (no tricks,) and perhaps the most honest and frank review sheet ever published·in the magic trade. The latter will be bi-weekly. Whew! I borrowed that last line from Doug Henning and I freely admit that he delivers "Whew!" with considerably more charisma and showmanship than I do. Piease watch for these and, again, thanks for both your purchase and your confidence. Oh, and about the above books: don't worry, I've learned my lesson. No more pre-publication specials! Good luck! And if your luck doesn't run too good (what grammar!) my name, address and phone number are on the last page of the book. I will be more than happy to help any purchaserto better understand any effect he really wants to learn and perform. Thanks again.

CARDS

Topsy-Turvy Aces lntroduction ~ E ffect: This is probably the most difficult routine in the book, however, it is also one of the most effective and satisfying to perform. The original idea is Ed Marlo's from his routine in Patented Fa lse Shuffle. Later, Derek Dingle gave the routine an in-the-hands treatment. This version goes back to the tabled presentation which, I feel is far superior. A deck of cards is shown and then shuffled face up and face down ala Triumph. T o convince your audience that all is fair, the deck is then shuffled again face up and face down in s low motion. Then the deck is spread to further prove that the cards really are face up and face down. With the deck in this topsy turvy condition, the four aces are cut from the pack in a very startEng manner. The last ace, in fact, is caused to appear from the center of the pack! The deck is then shown to still be mixed up face up and face down, but with one 'magical shuffle,' the performer completely rights the entire pack! All the shuffles in this routine are of a tabled riffle nature, leaving little room for suspicion among laymen or reconstruction by magicians. Method G Routine: To begin, cull the four aces to the top of the pack. You may use any cull familiar to you, however, I recommend the "Quick Cull" which is explained in my first lecture notes as it is very easy and practical. Forthose not conversant with my notes, an excellent substitute handling can be found in Arthur Buckley's Card Contro I which is now readily available in paperback. You may, of course, begin with the aces on top and use this as an opening effect or preceed this routine with any trick where you can secretly end up with the aces on top of the pack. Table the deck for a riffle shuffle and continue. The long side of the deck faces you. Undercut the lower half of the deck to your left. You are now going to shuffle the deck and set it up so there is an X card on top of the pack, followed by two aces and another X card and then the remaining two aces and, of course, the remainder of the pack. This is riffle smching in its most elementary form. Here's how: Begin as even a riffle shuffle as your skill will permit. As y oo get halfway through the deck, begin to let the left half riffle off the thumb a little faster than the right half. About three-quarters of the way, allow the left cards all to fall but the last two. Now, continue to hold back the left two cards and allow all the right cards to fall but the last four (the four aces.) Now, allow two more to fall from the right thumb, one from the left thumb, the last two from the right thumb and, finally, the last one from the left thumb. This, of course, must be done in one fluid motion as though you were merely shuffling the deck. Learn this well as it will serve you in many other card effects. The top card should now be an X card followed by two aces and another X card and then the final aces and the remainder of the deck.

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Now, complete the shuffle by pushing the telescoped halves together and squaring the pack neatly. Now, prepare to do another riffle shuffle by undercutting the lower half of the deck to the right Turn the right half of the deck face up and execute a Zarrow shuffle under the top s ix cards of the left half. This sixth card need not be counted to as it may be glimpsed as you shuffle. It will be the bottom ace of the stack when you began the shuffle. lf you arenot familiar with the Zarrow shuffle , it is detailed at the end of this explanation. Again, square the pack. The order of the pack, after the Zarrow should be top six cards face down, approximately half the pack face up and the remainder of the cards face down. Now, undercut to the right, cutting at the natural break caused by the "backed" halves. Turn the dght half face up and butt itd bottom card against the approximate mid-point of the left half and push the cards together as though you were trying to do a tabled faro shuffle. Push gently so the cards begin to weave and try to make the top portion of the left half weave perfectly with the right half for at least the first six cards of the left half. Do notwony ifthey do notweaue properly! You will c'orrect any errors during the next sequence. Now, s low ly push the halves together and invite the audience to scrutinize the deck closely to satisfy themselves that no trick shuffles are used. Square the pack. You are now going to show that the deck is, in fact, really mixed face up and face down . Take the deck in the left hand, turn .it face up and begin spreading the cards. lf you look through the pack right now, you may be surprised to find that the deck is completely face up except for s ix cards! Show the six face down cards to the audience as though the entire deck were mixed up. As you show them, check to be sure that there is only one face up card between each of the face down cards. lf there is any error, merely remove or insert the necessary cards to make everything correct. Make no move of this, just do it openly. When you have completed areanging the cards, continue to spread the pack until you come to the last face down card. Now spread one card further and cut the pack at this point, still face up and complete the cut onto the table. Turn the deck face down and check its order now. It should read from the top down: face down X card, face up ace, face down X card, face up ace, face down X card, face up X card, face down X card, face up ace, face down X card, face up ace, face down X card, face up X card and the remainder of the pack , face down. Now, before you begin the cutting sequence, turn the deck face up one more time and ribbon spread it s light~ on the table towards yourself and allow the first twelve or thirteen cards to show, keeping the remainder of the deck in a block. This looks as though the deck is really well mixed, face up and face down. Now, square the pack, turn it face down and execute any tabled slip cut that you do weil. This is a v-ery simple move and can be found in almost any card book. For advanced, very deceptive techniques, see the Marlo slip cut section of Alton Sharpe's fine book, Expert Can1 Conjurllg. The purpese of the slip cut is, of course, to bury the top card in a cutting action. A simple way to accomplish this is to merely hold the ta-

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bled pack as though you were ready to cut for a riffle shuffle. Allow the left forefinger to rest with a slight pressure on the back of the top card. Now, with the right hand, lift the top half of the deck s lightly. Now, simply pull out this top half to the right with the right hand and apply a little more pressure with the left forefinger thus holding back the top card. The right half will m ove out of under the top card which will fall flush with the left half when the right half clears it. As soon as the right half is clear of the deck, slap it right back on top of the left half without ever tabling the right half. This appears to be a straight cut but actually does nothing more than bury the top card. When you perform this move, the first ace will appear face up on top of the tabled deck. Remove the ace and place it face up in the left corner of your pad. Square the pack and repeat the slip cut. This will cause a second ace to appear face up on top of the deck. Again, remove it and place it face up to the right of the first ace. Stop and mention that perhaps the audience does not feel that the deck is shuffled weil enough. Off er to shuffle again and do so in the following mmmer. Begin by transferring the top card to the bottom with a tabled double undercut as you begin the riffle shuffle. This move is basic riffle shuffle technique and is used extensively in this routine, so learn it weil. With the deck tabled face down, bring both hands over the deck. The thumbs will touch the inner corners of the deck and the middle fingers will touch the outer corners. Both forefingers will be curled against the back of the top card. See the photo With the left thumb, lift at the inner corner of the top card for the exact position. and take a break under it with the pad of the left thumb. Now, the left handwill remain frozen during the following moves. The right hand now undercuts the lower half of the deck to the right and then brings it up and drops it right on top of the deck. If the left forefinger merely lifts out of the way, it will be an easy matter to place the right hand block of cards on top of the deck. The left thumb retains its break all throughout this undercutting. Without any hesitation and in one smooth continuous motion, the right hand now undercuts all the cards below the break to the right in preparation for a riffle shuffle. The top card has now been transferred to the bottom of the deck. If the right hand were to place its block on top of the deck , it would be in the same order that it began, except that the top card is on the bottom. Here of course, the right hand does not replace its block, but, rather, leaves them tabled for the riffle shuffle as follows. Riffle the halves together allowing the left half to fall faster than the right half so the top eightcards of the right half fall last and are not shuffled into. Push the pack square. Now, repeat the top card transfer as described above so you end up with two tabled halves of the deck ready to be shuffled together. Both halves will appear to be face down. Turn both halves over. Now the right half will be face up and the left half will be face down . Riffle shuffle in the foliflwing manner. Allow the bottom seuen cards of the right half to fall first, then riffle shuffle normally, but make sure

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the last card of the left half falls last. It will be a face down card. Push the cards square . Again, ribbon spread slightly allowing the first eight or so cards to spread and keeping the remainder of the deck in a loose block. Again, the dec k will appear to be face up and face down. Now turn the entire deck over and repeat the slip cut for the thi rd ac e. It will appear fa ce up on top of the deck. Remove it and place it next to the other two aces already on the pad. Now, for the last ace you will employ a very beautiful and eyepopping move by Piet Forton. F ollow with the cards in hand as you will, no doubt, find many more uses for this sudden appearance of a card. To pe rform this move, begin exactly as you would for the top card transfer, however , sto p when you have placed the first undercut portion on top of the pack. You are now holding the deck, tabled, with a break above the last ace a bout midway .into the pack. Now, with your right thumb, lift up the inner right corner of the last ace, but maintain the left break above it. This will automatically give you a right thumb break above the ace. Remove the left thumb from in between the hal ves and readjust the right t humb s lighfly to the right. You have now transferred your break to. the right thumb, but should still have a controlling grip on the ace with the right .thumb. See the second phot o for your position at this point. Now und ercut all the cards below the ace to the /eftwith the left band. Your right hand holds half the deck and on the bottarn of its block is the fa ce up final ace with a break held between it and the remainder of the block, held by the right thumb. The break being held is not a small one, but fairly wide. lf this is not your position now, get .into it. Now , tw i st at the wrists and turn the left half counter-clockwise and the right clockwise unti l the inner corners meet at about a forty-five degree angle. To verify this position, see the photo. Now lift the right half straight up, about two inches off the pad, and tap the back of the left half with it. Pull the left half out of under the right half and lift it up and tap the back of the right half. Now, pull the right half out of under the left half and lift it up to tap the back of the left half, but, as the right half reaches 1he peak of its upw ard mouem ent, relax and release the grip of the righ t t humb break. Do not hesitate as you do this. Begin the downward movement, but move s lightly forward and you should be surprised to s ee the face up ace shoot out of t he deck and get caught between the two halves as yo u tap them again. Now, to help you get this right, letmeteil you that there must be absolutely no hesitation as you release the break and that the downward move ment s hould be sort of a m i ld snap . You want to actually slap the back of the left half. The slight forward movement s hould be just that: SLIGHT! When I say slight I mean les s than half an inch forward and then immediately back. Your ultimate goal is to have the ace appear at a right angle to the deck. You will probably not get t his the first time you try, but keep at it and once you get the feel of what you are trying to do, it will happen every time. This is a really beautiful move and, hopefully is explained for the first tim e so yo u can understand it. Ricky Jay made this move very popular on a re-

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cent nationally televised magic speciaL It just goes to prove that good, advanced card magic can and does entertain laymen if it is presented properly. Ricky Jay, to say the very least, presents his card magic e xtremely well! Now that you have produced your last ace, place the left half on top of the right half and square the pack. Now, slip cut the upper half to the right burying the top card onto the left half. The right half will appear to be face up and the left will appear to be face down. Riffle shuffle making sure the bottom two cards of the left half falls first and the last card of the right half falls last. Push the pack square. Turn it over. Repeat the slip cut you just did and riffle shuffle again in the exact same manner. Now push the halves flush and square the deck. The patter, as you perform these shuffles, should be something to the effect that the trick is good but leaves the deck in a mess, face up and face down. Now state that you will straighten the entire deck in just one "magical" shuffle. Perform the top card transfer. Both halves will appear to be face up . The only , face down cards in the entire deck will be on the bottom of the left half. Shuffle by allowing the bottom two cards of the left half to fall. Then allow a few from the right hand half and finish the shuffle in a normal manner. Push the cards until they telescope for half their lengths. Now, with the right thumb, move under the right half and lift the deck up, pivoting it on the long side furthest away from you so the deck rests on the pad on its long side, This is like opening a book away from you. The bottom face down cards will remain flat on the pad due to the fact that you lifted the deck by the right half only. The left hand screens these two cards by appearing to help with the lifting action. Now, in a squaring motion, the fingers of both hands curl around their respective ends of the deck while the left thumb drags the two tabled cards onto the back of the left hand portion. This is a standard reversal move described in many card books. The pack is now allowed to fall face down onto the pad and then smartly given a wide ribbon spread showing that all the cards are facedown without error. The effect is now completed. Keep up an explanatory patter so the effect does not drag. Fora better understanding of the overall effect, I should advise you that it takes me almost exactly one minute and fifteen second s to do the effect from culling the aces to the final ribbon spread. That's about the timing you want to aim for unless you have a more interesting patter than I do. The shuffles must be done smoothly and without hesitation so it does not appear that you are shuffling the deck too many times.

Thelant1w Shuffle Forthose not familiarwith the la11'Dw shuffle. I will giue a briefdescription of tlte technique I use. lt is. essentially. a full deck control and. properly done. the deck appears tobe riffle shuffled and. withouttheunnecessalljenhancement(?Jof any fancy cuts or such, the deck is in the exact order it began! No canls are d isturbed atall. Contmllj to the aduice ofmany card workers, I strongly urge you to auoid

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t ipp ing the deck offthe table in any way as, supposed, added couerforthe actual moue. Anyone who does that is notdoing the Zarrow shuffle and, most likely, cannot ! II en.> is th e techn ique I use : With the deck tnbled for a riffle shuffle, Iift the top half of the pack w ith the right thum b. Now , w ith the le ft hand s tationary , cut the top half of the deck to the right but, as you do so, apply pressun.> w ith the left forefingeronto the back of the top cam of th e deck so the top half s Iides out of under it. T h is is like the s lip cuts used in the routine. T h is center strip-out is chamcteristic of fle Z arrow and it is this action that makes the shuffle so uery uers atile . A s sugge sU!d by Marlo, beg in a riffle shu ffle by a 1/ow ing a bed of ten or tw e lue cards fa II first fn:lm tte left half. Th is bed of cam s w i II make the subsequent Z arrow ln tljpe action ainost automatic . Riffle shuffle fairly eu~nly, allow ing a block of fiue to e ight cams to be he ld back fn:lm th e right half and one card to be he ld back fn:lm 1he left. Without hes itatbn, com plete the shuffle by allow ing 1he right block to fa ll followed by the single card held back by the lefthand. Do notpush the 'cards flJs h yet . This sh u ff ling action should be done so the halues weaue at the uery inn er corners on ly. Now, w ith the right forefinger, push the top few cards of fle right half to the le ftd in.> ctly under1he singletop cam ofthe lefthalf. At1he same time , the left forefing er pushes the top card to the right slightly as it receiues 1he spread block of cards be itt g pushed under it. Now , th e follow ing actbns mustall happen smoothly and simultaneously w ith no tipping or Iifting of the deck fn:lm 1he table, ifthe shuffle is tobe completely deceptiue . T he left hand tums its block c lockw ise on tte tab le wh ile 1he ri~t hand turn s its block counter-c lockw ise until the ends of the tv o blocks an.> flush w ith each other. Th is action autDmatically unweaues the shuffled comers yet this goes un seen becau se of the top couerafforded by the top card of fle lefthalf. lmmediately, the ri~ t hand pushes its portim diagonally into the lefthalf. This is diagonally in respect to the table top, that is, in an upward diagonal din.>ction. There is absolutely no Ii fting of the deck oft the table nor is 1hen.> any tilting or tipping of the pack. The bed o f cards will ainost force the right half 1D go under the top cam of the left half and on top of the remainderof tte lefthalf. Now, square the pack and you will see that the order of the canfs has not been altered in any way. Importal t things to remember are to striue for smoothness and be sun.> thatno part o f the deck is euerconsciously lifted offthe table. lf1his is adhered to. the deck can be, litem/ly, "bumed" and the audience will see nothing. P lease do not use 1ft is until you can execute it flaw less ly as th is, I ike the pass, is one of the most se ldom used , but bestkept, 8 .G. secrets in can1 magic and, yet, it is one of s1ron gest weapons auailable to you as a card man. 8 .G.! Whatelse? 8efon.> Garcia!

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Impossible Poker Demonstration lntroduction 6 f ffect: The deck is removed from the case and shuffled and cut. The aces are then cut, one at a time, in any onJer asked for! They are then distributed anywhere in the deck and the deck given one straight cut . The deck is then legitimately shuffled and t he magician proceeds to cut the aces in a manner that exceeds any challenge conditions! Again the aces are distributed and the magician mixes up the deck, face up and face do·.vn. No,v the deck is rolled over and leaves a small packet of cards on the table with an ace on its face! This is repeated three times with an ace appearing each time. Now the four packets are spread and each contains a full Royal Flush! The deck is again mixed and the spade flush left out. The magician then places the spade flush on top of the deck and states he will set up the spade flush for ten. hands of poker in one shuffle. He then shuffles the pack and deals out ten hands of poker. The ten th hand is turned up and seen to be four aces instead of the promised royal flush! The magician offers to try again and gives the deck one shuffle and one straight cut. He asks for any number between one and nine and then deals ten hands. It is seen that the tenth hand is the spade royal flush! The remaining hands are seen tobe varied except for the hand at the n::~med number which also contains anot!Jer Roya I F Jush! A su ggestion is gi ven at the end of this chapter which makes this six minute routine the absolute ultimate in entertaining gambling dernonstratioll magic. The Stad~: Obviously, a gambling routine of this magnitude requires a stack, but, this one is relatively simple to remember. The pack will have to be pre-set and then either switched in or used as an opening effect. To set, simply place the four aces op top of the deck, followed by six X cards, then the lOS , QS , lOC, QC, lOH, QH, lOD and QD, then eighteen X cards, then the JS, KS, JC, KC, JH, KH, JD, KD and, finally, the remainrng eight X cards. Since this book is written with the proficient cardman ( oops! ... person ... card person !... sorry!) in mind, the necessary moves wi 11 be only named and not detailed. lf you do not have knowledge of these moves, write me and I will be more than happy to help you locate their description&.

Routine: This routine is a combination of ideas and existing tricks. I will name them and their order right now and those of you who are well-read on card magic of an advanced nature can try the routine right now wi thou t bothering to read the rcst All the remainder will do is detail my technique for each trick. The methods I use differ somewhat from those Iisted here, l:;t.t the student should be conversant with the original methods to fully understand why I made what changes I did make. The first part of the routine is any good full deck control followed by Martin Nash' 'Aces

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for Experts ' from Euer So S/eightly. Then cornes any multiple shift fo!lowed by Ed Marlo's ' Miracle Aces ' from F aro Contro IIed M imcles , followed by Derek Dingle ·s ' Ro!lover Aces' from P re I im inary N ot2s to Part 0 ne of R iffle Shu ffle Tecim ique by Kar! Fulves (whew!) The routine closes with my ideas on 'I Came Here to Deal a Royal Flush· from The Tf?n Hand Poker Stack by Ed Marlo. The climax ending, which is optional , is my application of an idea of Derek Dingle's. To begin, arrange the four aces on top of the deck in a known order, such as the CHaSeD set-up. from the top down, The deck is removed from the case and given two false shuffles. The Zarrow Shuffle is excellent here. An excellent alternative is the ' Cover Up Shuffle· as described in Alton Sharpe ' s ExpertCard Conjuring. This latter shufflc · will seem weak until you actually try it. One trial will convince you of its dece~Liveness. Conclude by givin§, the dec!; a fa!s e cut on the table . I merely use the top card transfer described in Topsy Turvy Aces , but bold no breaks as it is executed. This way it becomes a full deck false tabled cut You may enhance tl}e illusion of this cut by taking the secend half in Lvo or three blocks instead of justone cut. This· is strenger because it looks like 3 running cut. The opening cutting sequence is really si:nplicity. Yoil know the order of the ace set-up so you merely cut the aces to the top and keep control and order of the .remaining aces as they are called . You have two techniques that can be used to accomplish this . The first , the simpler of the two , is to use the top card transfer described ear!ier with or without breaks as needed . For example , if the spectator names the AC first , you would merely give the pack th e top card tra11sfer without any breaks and you would end up wi th the AC on top and the remaining aces still in a known order from the top down (H, S and D.) Say !:1e named the AS next, you would then do the top card transfer actually moving the top card to the bottom , You would then end up with the AS on top, the AD secend and the AH on bottom. If the AH were named next you would then do the top card transfer only use it to transfer a card from bottom to top! In other .vords, do the first part of the transfer ·.vithout breaks. On the secend cut, steal the bottom card allowing it to fall on top of the secend half to be cut and complete the transfer. The AH will now be on top with the AD directly under it. For the last ace you would then do the transfer without breaks and t:1e AD would be on top at the completion of the cutting moves. The secend technique available to you , and the one I use , is to employ a combination of Zarrow Shuffle and riffle stacking controls. I prefer this because it makes the later performance of 'Rollover Aces· look utterly impossible because the deck has been shuffled many times prior to its performance and there is no time for set-up. Okay, let's take the same order, Clubs is named first so simply give the pack a Zarrow and a false cut and snap over the top card. It will be the AC and the three remaining acesarestill in order, H , S and D, from the top down . The next ace is the AS. Here is the technique. Do a center strip-out holdingback as rnany cards onto the left pile as are necessary to bring th e named ace to the top of the right pile , In this case, of course. you

8

would only hold back one card. Now begin your shuffle, laying down the twelve card bed as earlier described. Continue the shuffle, but hold back the top card of the · right pile and the held back on the lEft pile. Now allow the left card or cards to fall followed by the right hand card which will akvays be the named ace. Now the 'Zarrow-in' action must take place undemeath the left hand card as in the usual Zarrow Shuffle, but the right hand card must end up being the top card of the pack at the completion of the shuffle. Just do the diagonä upward push described earlier, letting the bed of cards do the work and the pack will automatically end up in the desired condition . The right hand card will merely go for the ride right up on top of the left hand cover card or cards. lt's almost like Zarrowing backwams between the top card of the right half and the remainder of the right talon (thought I'd get in my can1man won:l for the book!) It will feel awkward at first, but it will come . Now conclure by doing the tabled false cut and snap over the top card showing the AS. Now when the last ace is named, in this case Hearts, simply do a center strip-out ' from undemeath one card (the AH) as though you were going to do a Zarro w. You will have two halves of the pack tabled when you have completed ·this move. The left half . will have the AH on top and the right half will have the AD on top. Snap over the AH, pause, and then snap over the AD. Place the right half on top of the left half and the order of the deck is completely restored, no cards having been disturbed! Learn this sequence smoothly and quickly so you do not have to think when an ace is named. I actually begin the shuffles then ask for an ace . When it is named, I either complete a normal Zarrow and Iead right into the Zarrow-Stacking combination as needed or I just go into a cut. Whatever you do, show no thought! Just keep on moving and immediately produce that named ace. Now cut about ten to fifteen cards to the bottom. As you do, note the original bottom card and remernher it. Fan the pack face up and inse a the aces. The lowermost ace must be inserted directly below the remernbered bottom card. Now perform Marlo's 'Simple Shift' getting the four aces secretly to the top, yet restering the deck to the original stack again. Marlo's move is strongly recommended here in this particular application because, by using it, it becomes almest impossible to disturb any cards in the multiple shift movements. Also, when you make the first rnove of the shift, you should see the face of the glimpsed card popout toward you to assure that all is going correctly. Disturbance of just one card during the performance of any of these preliminary sequences in the routine will make the remainder of the routine failto work properly, so I suggest you use the techniques recommended here. The secend phase is the test condition cutting of the aces. It is the handling I use for Marlo's 'Miracle Aces'. In my lectures it has been a stunner. Pieasedome one justice. If you choose to learn this, don't do it or claim tobe able to do it until you 've perfected it. I will never forget when one young, now-popular, close-u p man formerly of Des Meines,: Io·.va, asked me if I did any ace cutting routines andl'told him what I did . Before I had even finished my words he claimed to perform it, so

9

I asked him to do it. He took the deck and , after strugglinq through one out-faro, he performed the routine. He missed three of the four aces! Not bad as long as you 're not being paid for your work. So, !earn it first , then do it. Anyway, so much for ramblin g. Here' s the work . After the 'Simple Shift' the aces are on top and the pack is in its original ordeL Now overhand shuffle eight cards from bottom to top. Don ' t do any jogs or such, just run eight as directed. N'ow give the pack one out-faro. The shuffle mustbe perfect. In an out-faro the top and bottom cards remain the s ame. Now spread the deck faceup across the pad and pretend to take one quick Iook at the cards, then scoop it up and table it face down. State that you will now cut the aces. Square the pack neatly. You are now going to actually cut the aces! That is alot easier than it sounds. You know tiley are in the follo.ving positions: 17, 19, 21 and 23 . You estimate your cut to try to getan ace. All you need to do is to try tocut more than twenty cards, but less than half. Since you are doing the faro, half is an easy cut for you, so you just cut off a few cards less than that! Try it right n9w, it will probably surprise you to see that you have an ace on either the face of the portion in your hand or on top of the portion on the table, Look and see if you donow. Assuming that you do, you must do the follo'Ning. Remove the ace. Now show the card above the ace (this will atvays be the face card of the packet in your haf!d.) then show the card below the ace (3lways the top face down card of the tabled portion. N ow place the packet in your hand on top of the tabled portion and the card just shown tobe b;>J.ow the ace is placed ontop of a!L This sets up the next ace. It must be done after every ace , Remember, show the card above the ace andthe card below the ace, rea ssemble the deck and be sure to pla ce the card shown below the ace on top of the pack. Your patter here is , "il ad 1 cut one can:l /ess I w ou ld haue missed an ace orhad I cut justone can:l mom I would have m issed!" Okay, now repeat your estimation cut and sh;Jw your second ace and reset the pack as described. Repeat a third time for the third ace. If any ace gives you trouble, this one might because you have only four locations you can cut to and still get an ace. After a few trials, however, you will never miss this third ace. In fact, you will find yourself able to actually cut to the last one which is really an unbelievable thing. That ' s cutting to one card in the pack! Reassemble the deck as required. Now, if you have reset the deck as instructed , no matter what order the aces are cut in, the final ace will always be the 20th card! Count right now and see. I al ways pause and name the suit of the last ace . I then run nineteen cards from top to bottom in an overhand shuffle. Then I double lift the top card to show it tobe other than an ace. Leaving the double card face up, I turn the deck face up and show the bottarn card not to be an ace. With the pack still face up, I turn the top card back face down (the top card on ly, not both cards of the double card) and then turn the deck face down and give it one straight cut. This is a standard reversal found in many card books. I then conclude by cutting the last ace with the deck tablecl . This, of course is easy because the ace is revers.d, but it makes for a very startling finish ,

10

Now complete your c1o1t bringing your last face up ace to the top of the deck and it is tossed onto the table. Now, examine the deck and you will find , from the top down 12 indifferent cards , the four royal flushes , less aces in S, C, H and D order, and the remainder of the deck . Now cut five or six more cards to the top of the deck and give it a wide fan. You a re now go ing to perform " Rollover Aces ' ' , I ' m going to g1ve you the moves I us e wi th zero detail, so if you wish to really learn this, get the manual referred to earlier or Cervon ' s T he Rea I Work for methods and details. With the pack fanned, insert the aces wh e re necessary to complete the royal flushes. As you do so , note and remernher the c ard directly ~ove the royal flush set-up, Show the fan and close it. Now as though you are getting ready for a faro shuffle , split the pack, glimpsing the indices as you do so, at the card you noted . This card will be the face card of the upper half after the split. Tablethe two halves, upper to the right and lowe r to the left. The first 20 cards of the lcft portion are the four royal flushes . Turn the right half face up and Zarrow , ' going under the top ten cards of the left half. The tenth card will be the AC and it is easy to sight this as you riffle shuffle. Push the cards flush. Now split at the natural br eak w trre the fa c e up and face down halves meet arrl unde.rut to the left. Turn the left half face up and shuffle allowing the first ~n car.ds of the left half to fall first and the last ten cards of the right half to fall last. 1--ush the halves home slowly and deliberately and point this factout so your audience can carefully watch the cards as they are squared. Now do a center strip-out to the right from underneath the top fiue cards. Both halves will appear to be face down. Turn bo1h halves over and Zarrow shuffle under the top fi be cards of the left half. Push the cards flush and square the pack. Finally, split the pack at the natural break again, undercutting to the left This 1ast shuffle i s the most difficult , but a little practice and you will have it. Let the bottom five cards of the left half fall first, followed immediately by the bottom five cards of the right half. Now let a few fall from the left half then shuffle normally allowing the left half to fall a li ttle faster . Now hold back the last fi ve cards of the left half. Let the right hand cards fall and then hold back the last five ofthat half. Now drop the left hand five cards followed by the right hand five cards. The shuffles are now complete. So you can understand what you are striving for, it takes me about fifty seconds from the point when I insert the aces into the fan to the point when I've completed the shuffles and " rolled over" the aces. You want to do the shuffles that quickly. You are now set up to rollover the aces. Briefly, set set the deck with the halves still telescoped at the upper left corner of your pad, so you have plenty of room toward yourself. N ow holding the deck at the extreme .~;.n~ end, roll it over (like opening a book toward yourself) toward yourself and you will see a pile of cards remain on the pad with an ace on its face. Now switch to the extreme left end and roll again. Roll a thi rd time still gripping only the left end and, finally , roll a fourth time gripping the rightend. You will have four piles tabled, each with an ace on its face. Now ribbon spread the rest of the deck showing the cards to

11

be all face down and then for the big climax, spread each of the four piles revealing four royal flushes! That is a quick and rough run-through of ' ' Rollover Aces·· . Be sure to see Fulves · book for the original Dingle version or Bruce Cervon ·s book for his many ideas and methods. Pick up the deck and throw all the flushes except the spade flush on top. Leave the spade flush tabled face up . It is imperative that the flushes stay in their correct order as they are placed face do.vn onto the de ck. No.v give the deck two Zarrow shuffles and one false cut. Now state that you will set up the spade royal flush for ten hands of poker in one shuffle! Euild up the impossibility of this, pointing out that it will involve the use of fifty of the fifty-two cards making a complete deck stack necessary in one shuffle, etc. It ' s all bull but make it sound good. Now place the spade flush on top of the pack in the same order as it rested on the table and give the deck one perfect in-faro shuffle. Now deal the cards in a circle , clockwise, dealing ten hands of poker and dealing the tenth hand in the middle of the circle. When you are finished you will have two cards left in your hand. Point this out then 'turn the tenth hand face up but keep it squared neatly so only the face card (AS) shows. · Now pick up the remaining nine hands as follows. Plrice the first hand ontop of the two face do·Nn cards in your left hand. Now place the second hand ontop of al! these cards. Place the third hand under these cards. Place the fourth ontop. the fifth under, the sixth ontop, the seventh under, eighth ontop and, finally , the ninth or last hand underneath. Table the pack . Now dramatically spread the tenth hand and shownot . th e roy.Ji 1 flush but four aces! You will get a nice hand on this, but raise your hand and say, 'Tm somJ. but I said I would smch a royal flush in just one, and on ly one shuffle and I intend tc do just that! Let me try one more time." Place the tenth hand facedown on top of the deck so theindifferent card is the top card of the pack. Now ask for any number between one and nine, then as an afterthought, say, "M ake it rough on me, mal'.te it a big one !" You say this only because you want to avoid 1, 2 or 3 . As they give you a number you, again give the deck one perfect in-faro shuffle. Now, advise the audience to watch the deal very carefully, especially at the hand at the number they named. Okay, if they named 4, 6 or 8 you do nothing but dealout the ten hands . If e.ey name 5, 7 or 9, you deal the ten hands , but deal a secend on the hand right befmrt' the hand at the number called. This is why you tell them to really watch the deal at the named number, because you want them to burn you on that deal because the work takes place on the hand before! Now, if they named 3 , 4, 6 or 8 , show both hands around the named hand tobe indifferent. If they named 5, 7 or 9, show the hand before the named hand and the one tw o hands after, then show the first and second hands as an afterthoughL Nowscoop up all the cards, leaving the chosen and tenth hands tabled face down. Now reveal the tenth hand to be the royal f l!sh in spades and then say , " Oh. tc make up for the firstmiss, I added this!" Now show the hand at their selected number to be anotl1er Roya I Flush!

12

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Okay, now you really want to blow everybody away? This takes alot of work, but it's worth it. You are going to add Derek Dingle's excellent finish to his MasmrPoRer Dem onstmtion to the routine you have just done. In other words , after all this, after they have seen the back of every single card in the pack (when you did the ten hand poker deal,) when you finish this last sequence the deck will change color!!! To set this up, assume you've been using a blue-backed deck. Ju st place in your lap a red backed deck with a blue card ontop. Now after you've shown the two royal flushes place the non-spade flush on top ofthe pack. Now explain that you will show , and reveal, how real gamblers build their hands from discards. As you speak, pull your chair a little closer to the table. As you do this, leave the pack you 've been using in your lap. Place the tabled royal f1ush in spades face down on top of the red deck (it appears to be the same deck because of the blue card on top.) You are now ready to do the "hand explanation " sequence from the Dingle routine , In this application just turn the deck face up and lay out four hands of five cards ' each. Now turn the deck face down aru place the first hand on top of the deck . The hand is face up, the deck face down . Without going into much detail, talk about the hand showing its strong points and cards that you can use to build a hand and, as you do, load the top card of the deck, still face down, second from the face of the hand. Table the hand, still face up (remember all these hands are red--backed so be careful to avoid flashing any backs as the audience thinks the cards are blue.) Pick up the second hand and do the same , loading the top card of the deck third from the face of the hand. Place this hand face up onto the first hand. Pick up the third hand and talk about it and load the top card of the deck, face down, in a position fourth from the face of the face up hand. Place this thi rd hand face up on to the previously tabled hands. Finally pick up the last hand and load the top card of the deck fifth from the face of the last hand. Place this last hand face up onto the hands already on the table. Now offer to show the most difficult type of poker . Turn the remaining cards in your hand face down and table them to the left of the face up hands piled there. The top two c1 rds of the face down half are blue so you may spread the top card slightly , strengthening the illusion of a blue pack. Tell the audience this is called face upface down poker and that after shuffling the deck face up and face down, the dealer deals and all his cards mustcome to him face down and all his opponents' cards must go to them face up or the house automatically loses. As you speak, Zarrow shuffle the two tabled halves together underneath the top card of the left half. Square the pack and then split at the natural break, undercutting to the left. N ow Zarrow shuffle 13nder the top fourcards of the left half and square the pack. Keeping the deck face up , deal out five hands of poker. All the opponents' cards will be dealt face up. All yours will be äealt face down, due to the shuffles and stacking. When you have completed dealing, point out the condition of the hands. Table the remaining half of the deck face down. This, again, shows a blue back. Now pick up the tabled portion, turn it face up and place the four face up hands

14

onto the face of the deck. As you pick up the last hand, however, accidentally(?) leave one face up card on the table. Place the deck face down out of the way . Thi s again shows a blue back. Now notice that you left one card out and pick up the deck, turn it face up and just place it, still face up, onto the face up tabled card and set the pack aside , still face up. Now reveal your h.and to be a royal flush in spades! After the applausedies down offer to show them how this all works. Turn the spade flush cards face down one at at a time and state that they are marked. When they look at the cards closely, to find the marks(?) say, ''No, don 't Iook at 1hese by them se lve s! C om pare them w ith the restof the deck and the marnings will stick out like a som thumb!" As you deliver this final statement turn the deck face down and give it a wide ribbon spread and let it be seen that the backs are red! The second card from the top of the pack is, of course, blue , so be careful to avoid flashing this card. If this doesn't get a loud gasp from the audience from sheer surprise, you'd better find another line of work because you are definitely doing something wrang! Don't pass this up. It can create foryou a reputation that even you may not be able to live up to!

15

The Uneral-Geniversal Card lntroduction & E ffect: A red backed card is shown to be the t\ce of Spades. Now, four cards are freely selected from a bluP deck. One by one, the red AS changes to each of the se!ected cards , finally ending up actually bPing an examinGble duplict's see .".the N ine of Diamonds, right!" As you say these words, you do a double turnover and turn to the spectator on your left and show him theAH telling him it is his card. Turn the card(s) face down on the deck and deal off the singletop card facedown in front of him and turn to the spectator on your right and double turnover and show him the 9D and teil him it is his card and turn it (them) facedown and deal off the singletop card right in front of him, of course, face down. Now wait. You won't have long to wait before the audience teils you that you are wrong. You just reply, "I am? What's wn:mg!" They will tell you that you have the cards backwards, that the first spectator's card was the 9D and the second card was the AH. They will not be adamant, but rather, just courteous, telling you that you got the cards correctly, but you have them placed wrong. This is the strength of this routine. They tell you where the cards are tabled. That means you ha ve them totally convinced and they, 100% without question or doubt or suspicion, believe the cards to be where you want them to believe. Of course, they are wrong and that is why this trick is so strong and memorable to them. You conclude by saying, "Oh! You mean I haue 1hem backwards! l'm terribly. terribly sony .. .here I' II correct 1hat... 1here, 1hat puts 1he 9D ouer here and w IJU ld you turn up 1he AH so eueryone can see it? Thank you." As you say that, you just make a little gesture and you turn over the 9D in front of the left spectator and Jet anyone on your right turn up the AH which precludes the possibility of any switches since you don't touch the card at all. Believe me, done this way, this trick is a miracle and one they will never forget. Properly presented with the right attitude, you will neuer encounter anyone who will prematurely turn over one of the tabled cards. Why should they? In their minds, you screwed up so you should straighten the mistake out which, of course, is exactly what you do. If you do it the classic way with one card ontop of a glass and one under it, you are inviting suspicion. You show one card and place it under a glass and name it so they can remernher it and then you do it again with another ontop. Then to recap, it is necessary to state or ask what card is where. That introduces suspicion. Why are you asking or re-naming the card? You are doing i t because your audience may encounter a little difficulty remembering two cards and their locations, but they immediately sense something is wrong. At the very least, they will preconceive your climax and that means, simply, that you have no climax at all.

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The Miller(?) Change lntroduction & E ffect: This isn't really an effect, it is just a change, but it is visible and a most beautiful change. It rivals Marlo's "V isual Retention Change" which I think is currently the most beautiful and most uisiblecard change for close-up table work. I use the change to end Henry Christ's "F abu lous F our Ace Routine :• as described in Cliff Green's Professional Can:l Magic. It is a delightful piece of magic that confounds and entertains both laymen and magicians, but, replacing Green's -~0% Perfeet Change" with this change makes the routine even more startling. The title is derived from the fact that Gene DeVoe of St. Louis showed me this move several years ago and said he thought it was Charlie Miller's. I have added a few finesses to make the handling almost perfect, but through the years I have shown it to many people and nobody has confirmed that it is, indeed, Miller's origination. So, if it is, thanks, Mr. Miller, for a truly fabulous piece of card wizardry. lf it is not, thanks, Mr. Miller, for a name for the move! Method: As I end the routine described above, the AC is second from the top of the pack. It is the last acetobe produced and I introduce it as the mysterious rising AC. The de.ck isheld in the left hand as though you were about to do a Charlier Pass with the deck face up but you tilt the hand so the audience can see the face card of he pack. This will feel awkward at first, but do it enough so that it becomes naturalized to your hand. The forefinger of the left hand is curled around the end of the psck nearest the table to keep it square. The left thumb is along the left long side of the pack (as you look down on it) and the fingers are on the right long side. Now, with the left forefinger, press against the back of the top card and curl the finger inward causing it to "rise" upwards. Make it rise for half its length. As the "rise" ends its travel, press a little ha rder causing the AC to also rise under the top card. The AC should rise for only one quarter inch or less. Now register surprise that the "risen" card is not the AC. As you do this, the left forefinger nail gets under the lower edge of the AC (the edge nearest the tableJ Now, all the following must happen simultaneously. Watch in a mirror and you will most likely startle yourself. The right hand come s from above to take the "risen" card. It approaches the card from above with the thumb pointing straight down and the fingers spread wide open so the palm faces directly toward the audience. Now, the instant the thumb touches the top short end of the "risen" card, the left forefinger snaps inward, propeHing the AC right up in front of the "risen" card. The forefinger must curl inward with a strong snap so the AC literally pops up in front of the "risen" card. This must happen the very instant the thumb touches the "risen" card.

29

The thumb, of course, acts as a stop and prevents the AC from continuing upward and being misaligned. Immediately the right fingers close down and take the projecting card(s) by the top end, fingers in front and thumb in back. The right hand then pulls the card(s) straight up and clear of the deck and immediately places it (them ) on the face of the pack. It appears that you merely take the card and when it is touched, it instantly and visibly changes to the Ace of Clubs! When the card is placed on the face of the pack, the left thum b then deals if off, face up onto the table, as the left hand does a wrist turn to "kill'' the face card of the pack which is the "risen" card. There can be no hesitation when you do this move and be sure to direct all attention to the "risen" card or your audience really, may miss the effect entirely! It all happens so quickly that people constantly ask to see it again. It's an eye-popper and one where they really can't blink or they rPally will miss the whole thing! Try this in a mirror and you will probably really startle yourself!

30

Lightning lntroduction & E ffect: This is a simple version of Derek Dingles' "Open Sesame," from D ingle'sDeceptions. It.is not claimed tobe better or in any way an improvement, just a vadation in handling that will make the effect easily within the reach of most cardmen, yet it retains all the impact of the original. Harry Lorayne's 'flying aces move' is eliminated, but replaced with the startling visual change described in the previous chapter. In effect, the four aces are placed into the deck. The deck is then cut and an ace shown to be on top. Another cut and the top card is shown to be other than an ace, the magician apparently having missed. With just a flick of the deck, the indifferent card instantly changes into an ace. Another cut and another miss! Again, the card is merely touched and visibly changes to the third ace. Finally, the deck is held in the left hand and commanded to open. The deck mystedously opens up right in the middle and the ace is plucked out from the opening. The ending sequence, from which the effect derives its name, "Open Sesame," is detailed in the Dingle book and will not be described here as it is the foundation of the novelty ofthat routine and it would be unfair and unethical to detail it here. However, if this fact works as an incentive for you to buy the book, then I'm sure, after reading it, you will thank me for making you go out and get it. At $4.50 (price at the time of this wdting,) Dingle's Deceptions is one of the few true bargains left .i n magic today. Me1hod & Routine: To begin the aces are controlled to the top of the pack after being distributed throughout the deck. You may use the method described in the Dingle book and itis most effective as are most bluffmethods of this type, or you may simply distribute them throughout the fanned, face up pack and then multiple shift them to the top. The easiest multiple shift is Marlo's "Simple Shift" and it is well worth looking into as it is very deceptive. Okay, now give the pack a false cut onto the table and snap over the top card revealing the first ace. Spin the ace onto the table, face up. Now reverse double undercut the bottom card to the top and snap the new top card face up, announcing that it will be the next ace. When you see the card (say it is the 8C,) say, " ..ano1her cut and ano1herace ...rightnow it's disguised as 1he E ightof C lubs." This always gets a laugh and psychologically conf.irms that this was an unplanned miss and not just part of the tdck. Leave the 8C face up on top ofthe face down deck. Now double lift the top two cards as one and do the standard snapover change saying nonchalantly, "Oh weil, we'll justchange it tD an ace!" A note on lte snapouer change: it cannot be done right in 1he open. The snapover change must be misdirected or covered in some manner, otherwise it just looks like you are doing exactly what you are, in fact, doing: turning a card over. I, usually, hold the card(s) in position for the change in the right hand. Then I tap the card(s) with the deck which is held face down in the left hand. I tap it again and on the se-

31

cond tap, while the double card is screened for about 80% of its surface area by the deck, I execute the actual snapover move, changing the card. Done quickly, with no sign of thought, the card appears to just change at the tap of the pack. Toss the ace onto the table af ter unloading the "changed" card on top of the deck. Now, do Marlo's Cover Up Cut (with no face up cards) to position the third ace. All this does i s bury the previously changed card into the middle of the pack and bring a new indifferent card ontop of the third ace which is now second from the top. For details on the Cover Up Cut, see "Simple Collectors," elsewhere in this book. Now, turn the deck face up in the left hand and cause the third ace to 'rise' out of the pack, actually rising the indifferent card ontop as in the Miller Change described in the chapter before. Then immediately teil them not to take their eyes off the risen card and do the Miller Change to change the card visibly into an ace. Place the ace (and the card secretly behind it) onto the face of the deck and then thumb off the ace face up ooto the table, doing a wrist turn to kill the face card of the deck. For the final ace, you are in position for the ending as described in the Dingle book. In other words, the last ace is on top of the pack. There are alternative endings you could use, but I won't suggest any here because I honestly think there is no better ending for a routine of this type than "Open Sesame" as described in the book. · I feel very badly doing this, but you are just going to have to buy the Dingle book if you want to finish this routine the way it should be finished. The ending is easy and very strong. I use it. Paying audiences love it. Using the distribution and control in the Dingle book, it takes me exactly 55 seconds from very start to very finish to complete the routine. Obviously, that accounts for the title: Lightning!

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Twisting The Aces Again lntroduction g f ffect: The four aces are shown and th en turned face down. In the usual manner they are each "twisted" face up one at a time. The last ace, the AS, gives a little trouble and then unexpectedly changes to th e King of Spades! The king is tossed on the table and turned over and it is seen that its back has also changed color! I developed this one day when a young man I was ri ding in a car with said to me, "T here must be a way 1D make 1he aces turn frlce up and end up w i1h a different card for a climax." I said there was and that Bro. John Harnman had worked it out some time ago. He then suggest~ d that the back could change too. I told him to give me a few minutes and then gave him this solution. I have used it ever since. There are so many back changes around that one must be careful to avoid overdoing it for laymen. It all seems to have started with Bro. John Hamman's F lushtmtion which, while it never became really popular, did introduc e to magic a new and oftenused count plus the novel idea of having a card' s back change rather than its face . It also introduced the suggestion that the surprise back be quite loud and contrasting to the red or blue back used, to deri ve full impact from the surpri se of the climax. Shortly thereafter, Bruce Cervon, in his D irty Dea I introduced the idea of multiple , multi-design back appearances. While the latter trick was terribly sim9le in its method, so much so that I still to this day question that it even fooled laymen, it was the inspiration for all the multi-back routines that are now so popular. Of course, it Was Sam Schwartz' BackFlip (not tobe confused with Bac-Flips) that has most influenced the back routines of this generation. I think, to date , F fi.pped 0 ut, Sym pa1hetic . Cards and Al Cohen's Peanut Trickare the best variations on the original 1de