Steven Youell - Infamous Non-Self Working Card Trick.pdf - S - animga

The Infamous Non-Working, Self-

Working Card Trick

The Effect

The Cardguy details the inner-workings of a card trick that is unusual in that it is guaranteed to

fail every time. He has a card selected, demonstrates that the trick never works and then shows

the amazing but strange secret.

Background

This is an effect that is strictly for magicians only, but the amount of work required is so minimal

that when the right time comes around, you’ll be really glad you learned it. Additionally, the

Stanley Collins Force is a great utility move.

The patter is from Sid Fleishman’s The Charlatan’s Handbook (L&L Publishing), a book that

should be read by everyone who performs magic just so they have the opportunity to realize how

important words are to our craft. The patter, with a few minor changes, is used with the kind

permission of Sid Fleischman.

The Work

Prior to your performance, take two different cards out of the deck that are of opposite colors

(let’s say the Four of Clubs and the Nine of Hearts) and place one in each pocket. Then at the

appropriate time, launch into your “pitch”:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I am going to take my life into my own hands this evening and

present for you the Infamous Non-Working, Self-Working Card Trick. This is the genuine

article. Please do not confuse it with any other faulty or inept card magic. This one is

unique—it has failure built in! Not even Dai Vernon was able to make it work. Ed Marlo

had 23 different versions—none of which worked.

Now you might well ask why anyone would want to exhibit such a feat and the answer is

simple: after you have performed the Infamous Non-Working, Self-Working Card Trick

you will never have to hear those oh-so-irritating words ‘Do it again. .’. No one has ever

asked to see the Infamous Non-Working, Self-Working Card Trick a second time. Ever.”

Pick up the deck and start spreading it with the faces towards you and look for the Joker. As you

do this, get the cards that are of the same value as the cards in your pocket but opposite in suit to

the top and bottom of the deck. In this case, you’d want the Nine of Clubs and the Four of

Hearts; one on top of the deck and the other on bottom. Remove the Joker and place it face-up on

Entire Contents are Copyrighted by Steven Youell

the table. As you’re doing all of this say “First we need a totally random yet slightly

confusing selection procedure so I’d like you to stick this Joker face-up anywhere in the

deck as a riffle through the cards, okay?”

Give the cards a cut maintaining a break and use the Stanley Collins Force to force the Four of

Hearts and the Nine of Clubs. The Stanley Collins Force is described at the end of this effect.

The timing on the displacement here is critical—after the spectator sticks the Joker in the deck

look her in the eye and say “Now would you like to change your mind? Because the trick

isn’t going to work anyway…!” When you say the word ‘anyway’ there should be a laugh

(hopefully at least a chortle) and that is the exact moment to move your right hand forward six

inches and then up and down in a gesture to emphasize these words: “You can move it up,

down, whatever… No? Right here is okay then? Fine!”

Leave the Joker out-jogged and ribbon spread the deck face-down on the table removing all the

cards with the exception of the Joker and the card above and below the Joker (the force cards).

Square-up the rest of the cards and table them.

“Now you’ve stuck that Joker between two cards and one of those cards will determine the

suit of the selected card and the other will determine the value. The fun part is that you get

to decide which does which.” Turn the force cards face up and remove the Joker. “Which

one determines the value? The Four? Then the suit would be Clubs. Okay, we’re looking

for the Four of Clubs! Hold on to your corner-shorts—here we go!”

Put the two force cards back in the deck and give the deck a shuffle. Spread the deck face-down

on the table and pluck a card from the spread. Hold the card with its back towards the audience

and dramatically announce:

“The Four of Clubs!” Show the card. “Well no, of course not! This is, after all, the

Infamous NON-WORKING, Self-Working Card Trick. I wouldn’t want you to think that

this failure was sheer chance, a mere fluke! This little gem is guaranteed to fail! Here, let

me prove it to you!” Gather up the cards, dribble them down to the table and then close your

eyes and pick one out. Hold it up in the same fashion as before and exclaim:

“Whammo! The Four of Clubs!!” Show the card. “See what I mean? This is the real

work—err... the real non-work! Why this great Non-Working, Self-Working Card Trick

has occupied the minds of some of our greatest magical intellects, card cheats and

confidence men. It was actually pioneered by the infamous card cheat known as Sammy

Svengali Jr., who later went on to invent the lesser known Semi-Working Self-Working

Card Trick. Sammy was the man who discovered the real secret to this trick’s

imperfection and I feel privileged to be able to share it with you tonight. The real secret to

the Infamous Non-Working, Self-Working Card Trick—the way to make sure you never

actually find the selection… is to make sure it’s not in the deck before you even start!” Pull

out the Four of Clubs from the appropriate pocket.

Entire Contents are Copyrighted by Steven Youell

The Stanley Collins Force

I first learned this force from The Amateur Magician’s Handbook by Henry Hay, but my

handling on it is a little different. Here is a description of it as used in the above effect: start out

with one of the force cards on top and one on bottom. Cut slightly more than half the deck to the

bottom, maintaining a break. This positions the force cards a little less than halfway down the

deck and you’re holding a break between them. Ask the spectator to stick the Joker face-up in

the deck as you riffle the deck from the outer end with your right fingers. Time the riffle so that

she sticks the Joker somewhere below the break. Leave the Joker out-jogged and clip it between

your right index finger and right middle finger at the same time grasping all the cards above the

break between your right thumb and right index finger. The front edge of the upper packet of

cards should be almost covered by your right index finger. Perform these motions as you say

“Now would you like to change your mind? Because the trick isn’t going to work

anyway…!” During the laugh move your right hand forward six inches taking the cards above

the break and displacing the face-up Joker from where the spectator placed it to where you want

it to be: face-to-face with the upper force card. As soon as the halves of the deck clear say “We

can move it up, down, whatever…” On the word ‘up’, move your hands further apart

(vertically) and when you say ‘down’ move them closer together (vertically). Moving your

hands apart and then closer together to emphasize the words ‘up’ and ‘down’ takes the heat off

the fact that you’re separating the halves of the deck.

A Few Tips...

1) Don’t show your hand empty before you reach into your pocket. Since you’re doing this for

magicians, they will be forced to conclude that you somehow forced the selection. On the other

hand, don’t make a conscious attempt at acting like you’re palming a card. Simply suit your

actions to your words and reach in and pull the card out. 98% of magicians won’t expect you to

have the card in the pocket and by the time your hand is in your pocket they won’t know what hit

‘em.

2) The way I remember which card is in which pocket is simple—I always place an odd valued

card in my left pocket and an even numbered card in my right pocket. Whatever memory device

you use, use it consistently and use contrasting cards, e.g. don’t use two face-cards or a nine

paired with a ten.

3) The Stanley Collins Force is one of the best sure-fire forces that I know. The face that the

spectator confirms the position of the Joker after you have already displaced it makes it

extremely deceptive because they will be looking for a move after they’ve approved of the

position of the Joker, not before.

4) If the spectator decides to change her mine it’s a simple matter to pull the Joker out and

retake the break as you do so and then start again.

Steven Youell - Infamous Non-Self Working Card Trick.pdf

Plik z chomika:

Inne pliki z tego folderu:

Inne foldery tego chomika: