Easy Card Magic

132 Pages·2003·7.934 MB·English

by  Bob Longe

Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
New York
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Longe, Bob, 1928-
Easy card magic / Bob Longe.
p. cm.
Includes index.
Summary: Explains the secrets and presentation techniques of
seven maneuvers and sixty-four card tricks.
ISBN 1-4027-0791-6
1. Card tricks—Juvenile literature. [1. Card tricks. 2. Magic
tricks.] I. Title.
GV1549.L5277 2003
793.8'5—dc21
2003005722
2468 10 97531
Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
© 2003 by Bob Longe
Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing
c/o Canadian Manda Group, One Atlantic Avenue, Suite 105
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3E7
Distributed in Great Britain by Chrysalis Books
64 Brewery Road, London N7 9NT, England
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia
Manufactured in the United States of America
All rights reserved
Sterling ISBN 0-4027-0791-6
CONTENTS
The Real Magic.7
Moves .8
Quadruple-Cut Control .8
Roll-Over False Cut.10
One of Two Force .11
Up-and-Down Shuffle.11
One-Two-Three Shuffle .13
Hay-Mow Shuffle.14
Small-Pile Shuffle..16
TRICKS.19
Discovery Magic.19
Take Your Choice.19
Double-Header.21
The Oldest Process..24
A Center Cut .26
Hand Them Over.27
Find Them Both.29
At Milt’s House .30
Use Your Mentality .31
A Little Work.33
A Lovely Couple .35
Let’s Both Choose.36
Four by Four .38
A Good Deal .40
Likewise.41
Four of a Kind Magic.43
Easy Aces.43
The Pick of Four .44
All for One.45
4 Easy Card Magic
Match-Ups.48
Miss You . .50
It’s Reigning Queens.51
Countdown Magic.53
A Count for Yourself.53
The Psych Count .55
Bottoms Up .57
And Four to Go.58
Twenty Plus .59
Face-Up Magic.61
Two by Two.61
Expansion .63
Mental Magic. 64
Experimental Mind Reading.64
The Very Thought of It.66
Q the Audience .68
After Dinner. 73
An Odd Number .75
Just Keep Dealing! . 76
Prediction Magic .77
Double Trouble .77
We Have a Winner.79
Got the Time? . 81
Coincidence Magic.82
Same Old, Same Old .82
You Belong to My Hearts.84
A Little More Work.86
What’s in a Name?.89
Alone By The Phone Magic.91
We’re Off to Hear the Wizard .91
A Phoney Routine .95
Simplicity Itself.98
Contents 5
Number Magic.99
Two for the Price of One .99
Piles of Magic.101
It All Adds Up .103
The Good Word.105
Setups.107
Detection by Inflection.107
Three to Get Ready .109
Odd or Even.Ill
Match Them Up.112
The Elite Set.113
Spelling Magic. 114
It’s All Yours.114
Name Calling.115
Piles of Spelling .116
Computer Speller.117
Shake, Rattle, and Spell .119
Cut and Count.120
Red-and-Black Magic.122
Another Hummer.122
I Just Can’t See It.123
Mastery Levels Chart 5c Index.125
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2018 with funding from
Kahle/Austin Foundation
https://archive.org/details/easycardmagicOOIong_0
7
The Real Magic ;
H
ere you’ll find 7 maneuvers and 60 excellent card tricks that
require no mastery of sleight of hand. This doesn’t mean, how¬
ever, that you need not practice. You must master the secrets and
presentation techniques. I’ll thoroughly explain the secrets. And I’ll
help out with presentation. But you must contribute time and effort.
When I was in the service (many years ago), I pulled duty with a
fellow soldier, Bobby Kelly. He had seen me perform card tricks and
asked if I’d teach him some. I was flattered and delighted. I started by
teaching him a number of easy tricks, but soon advanced to far more
complicated effects. Bobby, from South Carolina, had a deep voice
and a naturally grand manner—so much so that I was reminded of a
traditional Kentucky colonel, so I dubbed him Colonel Kelly. One day,
I observed him showing card tricks to a number of fellow soldiers.
Imagine my surprise that he was doing the tricks better than I did.
What was he doing? He just naturally presented them in the grand
manner, as I imagine a P.T. Barnum might have. Picture a sideshow
barker in slow motion and you’ll have a fair idea of Colonel Kelly’s
technique.
“My friends, here we have an ordinary deck of 52 pasteboards.
Is it possible that hidden inside these ordinary cards are wondrous
miracles? Oh, yes. For example, let’s see what happens when Joseph
makes a single selection from the 52.”
And so on.
He certainly baffled his fellow soldiers, but even more, he enter¬
tained them. They were seeing a show, an artist at work. I’m not rec¬
ommending that you adopt Kelly’s grandiose technique, unless of
course that’s your natural way. That’s certainly not my way. I prefer
a fairly humorous approach, making occasional asides intended to
evoke laughter or at least snickers. Furthermore, I am more
restrained and, if a miracle occurs, I’m as astounded as everyone
else. “I can’t believe this. So help me, this is the first time this has
ever happened.” Everyone knows it’s nonsense, but, for me, it works
much better than being either a Colonel Kelly or a Mr. Know-it-all.
8 Easy Card Magic
Whatever your natural personality, presentation is everything. If
you’re a reserved individual, you must unbend somewhat and offer
a reason for performing a particular trick. If you have a tendency to
be a bit brash, incorporate that into your performance as you pres¬
ent your patter.
What kind of reason, and what patter? I think of it this way:
Backing up most tricks is a story, something that will interest specta¬
tors, independent of the magic. It might be something fairly slight,
like the idea of a specific kind of shuffle from Australia (See “Double
Header,” page 21), or it might be an extensive tale, something involv¬
ing the three musketeers, for instance (See “All for One,” page 45). I
provide direction on the vast majority of the following tricks, but you
must do the major work yourself. Adapt, originate, and develop
clever new themes that will work for you.
Yes, the secrets here are clever and marvelously deceptive, but
the entertainment is up to you. That part you must think about and
practice.
Moves
For many tricks, it’s vital that you be able to control a selected card.
There are many methods that require considerable skill. But Fred
Braue, superb magic innovator, came up with this simple control.
The only requirement is that you be able to insert your left little fin¬
ger above a selected card when it’s returned to the deck.
You do this by tilting the cards above the returned card slightly
(Illus. 1). This makes way for you to insert the tip of your left little
finger above the card. Simply close up the deck and keep your right
hand over it, concealing the break. You need only do this for a sec¬
ond or two because you immediately begin fanning the cards out.
“Fet’s take a look at some of the possibilities.”
You fan to the break and turn over all the cards above the break.
More or less even up the cards.