\ a we Tue Arr or Astont#\vent PIECES OF STRANGE TO UNLEASH THE MoMENT ADpITIONAL WririNc By Eric MapTHE ART OF ASTONSUMENT BOOK >our primal state of conciousness is neutral and flowing. Then like jello, it takes on the Y shape of whatever “idea mold’ it's poured into, That shape gradually congeals into your world view, your “permanent” reality. Our culture is a competition to see who can make the most appealing mold..and to promote it as the “real mold” so you'll pour yourself into it. The moment of astonishment temporarily breaks the mold and sets intelligence free. Astonishment is the mold of no molds. Although ['m not sure if this still works if you add tiny marshmallows Howdy, Welcome to Book 3THE ART OF ASTONISUMENT BOOK > ILLUSTRATIONS BY TONY DUNN: ADDITIONAL WRITING BY ERIC MEAD LAY OUT AND BOOK DESIGN BY TONY DUNN PHOTOGRAPHY FOR DUST JACKET BY ANDRE HAGEN PRE/ILLUSTRATION PHOTOGRAPHY FOR NEW MATERIAL BY ANDRE HAGEN EDITED BY ANDRE HAGENPLooT-IN-MOUTU-NOTE. lose to fifty effects have been cut from the previously-published material because either more ele ant versions have evolved or because the original effect was genetically mediocre, How | ever had the nerve to publish some of that stuff is a source of constant inspiration to me. A select few of these dubious pieces have been included to promote the art of discernment and because they make me smile, Introductions and essays have been shortened, altered or deleted at my whim. The focus has been on clarity and value and creating the illusion that | always know what I'm doing, This illusion quickly fades when you compare my past and present comments on astonishment vs entertainment. You can either wrestle with the contradictions, ignore them and hope they go away, or assume that this time | really know what I'm talking about, which has historically proven to be a bad bet vilCONTENTS (BO0K 2) Credits PHoot-In-Mouth Note Dedications The Astonishing Editor: André Hagen The Other Side of Astonishment (Abrams) NE\W STUFF Shape of Astonishment Window of Opportunity Hot Chocolate The Anything Deck Peanut Butter and Jellyfish Rumpled Splitskin Free Ride Arrow-SplitArrow Bat Fishing Membrane Membrane: With a Pack of Smokes (PH,/Mead) The Swing Thing (PH./Mead) Tictac (PH./Mead) Leaf (PH./Mead) CLOSE-UP FANTASIES FINALE (1981) Bizarre Vanish Close Quarters (Daryl) Heartburn Mickey Mouse Math Torn and Restored Deck Shuffle Time Strange Exchange Just Call Me Mr. Wonderful The Bill Collector Guts CLOSE-UP KINDA GUY (1983) Improvised Screwed Deck (revised) Hi There Babycakes The Perfectionist Instant Replay Simple Switch Headache 3h 8 3 7 21 23 2 29 31 33 37 41 45 49 81 53 87 63 66 67 n 7 "9 83 87 91 99 105 109 16 19 121Bad Estimate Roturn of the Bizarte Shrink (revised) Chocolate Coin (PH./Dick Ryan) BRAINSTORM IN THE BAHAMAS (1983) CardCufts The Bent Copper-Silver Transposition (Ammar/PH./Daryl) Hefty Penetration (PH./Daryl/Ammar) Hedonists Makes Up All The Rules (Cummings/Herz) ‘A Card Well Hung (Kaufman/Daryi/PH./Ammar) Free Lunch CLOSE-UP SEDUCTIONS (1984) Diary of a PH. Video (Martinez/PH)) Limo Service Seductive Switch Blue Tattoo (revised) Unhinged 10 (Sankey) Bushwhacker Sweet Stuff Michael's Proposition (Ammar/P.H.) Bleached Blackjack (revised) MAGICAL ARTS JOURNAL (1987) PAUL WARIS “TUE ACT. WITH COMMENTARY BY MiCHACL AMMAR. Mead on PH Whack your Pack (aka Reflex) Juke (Harkey) (1996) Free Flight ‘The Tap Dancing Aces P.H. Inwisible Palm aka Open Travelers (Marlo/Jennings/PH.) Mondo Nifty Invisiole Palm (Everybody) (1996) Big Time Las Vegas Leaper Biological Shuffle (revised) Galaxy (Jones/PH.) 128 129 133, 139 141 143, 147 153, 167 161 163 167 173 Ww 181 185 191 195 197 205 207 an 216 219 227 238 241 249 253 SECRETS OF THE ASTONISHING EXECUTIVE (1991) PIN COLLABORATION WITH BILL HERZ The Break-Room Boredom Buster (Curry) The Client Confidence Sugar Shocker (Carlyle/Hull/Trutzi/PH)) The Instant Incompetency 10 Test (A Revised Classic) The Burbling of a Pea (Someone's Kid Brother) Perfect Ten Paper Clip Paradox 259 263 265 269 aThe Late-for-Lunch Miracle Maneuver (Also a Revised Class Moms Come and Go but a Rolex is Forever (A Revised Milt Kort Classic} MISc. PIECES OF PAUL Cube (Eng/PH) [1985] Bizarre Stretch (1982) Torn Mentalist (1981) The PH. Breakthrough (1981) {revised} ASTONISUING FRIENDS ‘The Shuffling Lesson (Long) Voodoo Card (Hollingworth) Dollar Box (Rohm) Daryl's Hot-Shot Cut (Simplified) Sankey on PH, CONVERSATIONS FROM THE EDGE. Kitchen Magician The NoWhere Man Master Index 281 285 291 295 299 303 307 3m 313DEDICATED TO EVERYONE. INCLUDING... Hicks..the infinity man, An outlaw comic simply telling the truth..and everyone thought you were jok- ing Patrick and Bonnie and a friendly couch and songs at midnight and what's her name who used to live above us and a garage where anything is possible. Margaret and Devora and their endless blackmail ‘Ammar, Carey, Ackerman, Sheets, Spill, Menna, Daryl, Blencoe, Bob, Happy, Billini and Big Tony because wherever | go there you are. Ricardo..who's learning to make the rainbow. ‘Tobias Beckwith and Associates: This is a good start. Now you need some business cards. Jan J. and the Rose Cafe and the car chase and you were right Barbara, John and Jeff who taught me the proper way to read a book Maxwell. Singer of songs, friend of wayward turkeys, big time high roller and tap dancer on the edge of the infinite, You're quite a guy (give Corene a raise), Adar, Pattick, Jeff, Thaddeus, Maya Blu, the Redwoods and the Institute for Advanced Astonishment.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment THE ASTONISHING EDITOR AND PHOTOGRAPHER ANDRE HAGEN tor André on the taht. challenges art Tony Dunn nother book wth the guys the mile André is @ member in good standing of the Thoreau Sauntering Society and is most at peace when sauntering in the uncivilized areas of the painted desert, But before he completely unplugs from the cultural grid André agreed to the very unsauntering-lke task of editing these 900 or so pages of my disorganized ramblings. | think he took this job on as the final convincer that he should stop doing things lke this and stick with sauntering. Whatever his reasons, André turned out to be the ideal edt tor..which is @ combination English teacher, therapist, priest and parole officer..(l bet he edits out those last three dots..but that’s why he's here. André also made sure that | ate plenty of healthy jello had proper winter wear for my stay in Madison, Wisconsin and told me at least once a day that each book was @ masterpiece even though I know he secretly likes Eugene Burger's stuff better. Okay, so André isn't perfect. but he’s working on i ‘André put in an average of six hours a day for over a year (that's after his full time job as a com- puter wizard) where he catalogued and managed hundreds of files and lists and scraps of paper and notes scratched onto the edges of playing cards..all of which | would randomly re-shuftle just to see avePaul Harris The Art of Astonishment how it would look ‘Andre’ never flinched. and in his nonexistent free time he managed to take the countless pho- tographs that Tony used for all the new illustrations. Although after a year of work there was one Sunday when André apologized that he would only be able to devote half a day to the project.because it was Father's Day. | know. | should have fired the bum on the spot..but | needed his expert photog- raphy skils for the book's cover shots.s0 | had to be nice to the guy. In a nutshell, you would never be able to read this book if André hadn't photographed, organized, and edited it first We once pondered the possibility that the whole world was simply a single mis-guided thought end- lessly seducing itself with it's own imaginings. | said “yesh. what a mess..so now what should | do?” He said “Don’t worry about it. Just finish the books.” And so | did Although my misguided thought will never be able to properly express what a dear friend Andy's been throughout this tangled journey. All that | can do now is wish him well on his desert saunterings and remind his grandkids that you're never really @ growr-up until you can go beyond everything you think you know...which is the unchart- ed territory of deep astonishment André is sauntering in right now.THE OTHER SIDE 2 A STONISLIMENT DAVID ABRAMS | first met David Abrams about 15 years ago at a N.Y. Magic Symposium, Dave's presentation of his University-sponsored research into the ecology of magic and perceptions left me speechless - which is a valuable accomplishment in itselt In the trucsife adventure that follows, David Abrams tracks the art way beyond the wildest edge of edges, over the barbed-wire fence of culturally-sanctioned reality, and into the taboo mind-space on the other side of astonishment. “Locate the blind spot in the culture..the place where the culture isn’t looking. because it dare not..because if it were to look there, it's previous values would dissolve. ~ Terrance McKenna (Previously published as "Making Magic" in the "Utne Reader" Jan,/Feb. 1988) They told me | had powers. Powers? | had been a magician for seven years, perfoming steadily back in the states, entertaining in clubs and restaurants throughout the country, yet | had never heard anyone mention powers. To be sure, once or twice a season | was rebuked by some spectator fresh out of Bible school for "doing the work of Satan.” but the more cus- tomary refrain was: "How did you do that?" Every evening in the clubs: "How? How did that happen? C'mon, tell us ~ how does that work?" "| don't know,’ | took to saying, mostly out of boredom, yet also because | felt there was a grain of truth in that statement, because there was some aspect of my sleight-of-hand tricks that mystified even me. It was not something | could experience when rehearsing alone, at home, or when practicing my sleights before a mirror. But when | would stand before my audi- ence, letting my fingers run through one of their routines with some borrowed coins, and I'd see the spectators’ eves slowly widening with astonishment, well. there was something aston- ishing about that for me as well, although | was unable to say just what it was. When | received a fellowship to support a year's research on the intertwining of magic and medicine in Asia, | thought | might have a chance to explore the secrets that lay hidden with- in my own magic, or at least to discern what mysteries my magic had in common with the magic used in traditional cultures not merely for entertainment, but for healing, fortification, and transformation. | was intending to use my skills as a Western sleighto-hand magician to gain access to the native practitioners and their rituals - | would approach them not as an academic researcher, not as an anthropologist or sociologist. but as a magician in my own right, and in this manner would explore the relation between ritual and transformation from the insidePaul Haxis The Art of Astanishment As it turned out. this method worked well ~ at first almost too well, for the potency my magic tricks took on in a rural Asia brought some alarming difficulties. In the interior of Sri Lanka, where | began my quest. | was rather too open with my skills; anxious to get a sense of the local attitude toward magic, | began performing on village street corners much as | had three years earlier while journeying as a street magician through Europe. But these were dif- ferent streets, much more worn and dusty than those concrete thoroughfares, reeking with smelis of incense and elephants, frequented as much by gods and demons as by the human inhabitants of the island. Less than a week after | began plucking handkerchiefs from the air, "the young magician from the West" was known throughout the country. Huge crowds fol lowed me wherever | went, and | was constantly approached by people in the grip of disease, by the blind and crippled, all asking me to cure them with my powers. What a frightful, sad- dening position to be in! When, like a fool, | attempted to show that my magic feats were but illusions accomplished by dexterous manipulations, | only insulted these people - clearly, to them, | was using clumsy explanations to disguise and hide my real powers. | fled Sri Lanka after only three weeks. suffering from a severe case of ethical paradox, determined to begin my work afresh in Indonesia, where | would above all keep my magic more to myself. It was five months later - after carefully immersing myselt in the Indonesian island universe, observing and recording the patterns of culture, while slowly, inadvertently, slipping into those patterns myself ~ that | first allowed myself a chance to explore the more unusual possibilities of my position. For five months | had been true to my resolve, keeping my magic much more "up my sleeve" than | had in Sri Lanka - waiting for just the right moment to make something impossible happen, and performing for only a few people at a time, perhaps in a tea stall or while sauntering past the rice paddies. In this manner | slowly and much more surely wove my way into the animist fabric of the society. | had the sense that | was becoming known in the region, but in a more subtle and curious manner than before ~ here and there | had begun to hear stories about a Westerner, glimpsed on the far side of the island, who actually had access to the invisible world, to the spirits. Gradually | had been contacted by a number of dukuns, or sorcerers, often in some clan- destine manner, through a child o a friend, and asked to visit them in their homes. The ink tial meetings had been strained, sometimes frightening. for these practitioners felt their sta tus threatened by a stranger who could so easily produce shells from the air or make knives vanish between his hands. And | in return felt threatened by the resultant antagonism - | did not want these magicians to view me as their competitor for | knew the incredible power of the imagination and had no wish to be the victim of any dark spells. (When | came down with a nightmarish case of malaria, | was sure, in my delirium, that | had brought it upon myself by offending a particular sorcerer.) As the months unfolded, | had leamed not to shy away from these tensions, but to work with them. | had become adept at transforming the initial antagonism into some sort of mutual respect. at times into a real sense of camaraderie. | had lived with a sorcerer-healer in Java and traded magic with a balian tapakan, or spirit medium. in Bali, both of whom were convinced that my presence in their household enhanced their ‘own access to the gods and accentuated their power as healers. But that is another story. On a certain early monsoon day | sat in a rice stall in a small fishing village on the coast of Bali, shielding myself from the afternoon rain. Munching my rice. | stared out at a steamy, emerald landscape - with the rainy season finally breaking overhead, all the Balinese greens were beginning to leak into the air. Inside, an old woman was serving rice across the wood- en slab of a counter to two solemn fishermen: in the corner of the hut three others were laugh-Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment ing and conversing in low Balinese. The downpour outside stopped abruptly: now other sounds - dogs fighting in the distance. someone singing. | stood up to pay the woman, counting out the correct number of coins and reaching across to drop them into her hand. | opened my fingers - the coins were not there! The woman and looked at each other, astonished. | turned my empty hands over several times, looked on the dirt floor behind me, then reached under my rice bowl and found the coins. Feigning relief, | took them up and reached across to hand them to the bewildered woman ~ except that the coins were missing once again when | opened my fist. By now the men in the corner had stopped talking and the two at the counter had paused in the middle of their meal, watching as | became more and more annoyed, searching the floor and the bench without finding my money. One of the fishermen suggested that | look under my bow! again. | lifted it up, but the coins were not there. Upset, | stared at the others. One of them backed slowly into the street. | shrugged my shoulders sadly at the woman, then caught sight of the two haltfiled rice bowls resting in front of the other men at the counter. | motioned hesitantly for one of the fishermen to lift up his bowl, He looked around at the others, then gingerly raised one edge of the bowl - there they were! The coins glittered on the palmwood as the fishermen began shouting at each other, incredulous. The old woman was doubled over with laughter. The man who had uncovered the coins stared at me long and hard. As the others drifted out onto the street, still shouting, this man shoved his rice aside, leaned over to me and asked, 1n Indonesian, if | would be so kind as to accompany him to meet his family. Something urgent 1n his voice intrigued me; | nodded. He paid the old woman, who clapped me on the shoul: der as we left, and led me down the street toward the beach. He turned off to the right before reaching the sand, and | followed him through the rice paddies, balancing like a tightrope- walker on one of the dikes that separate the flooded squares. To our left the village spread itself out along the shore: a young woman nursed an infant; smoke rose from cooking fires; three pigs rummaged through a pile of rags and wood. The man turned to the left between two paddies and led me through a makeshift gate into his family compound. Children were playing. He motioned me inside one of the two buildings - his brother lives in the other, he explained - where a young woman sat with a child on her lap. Before | could make a formal greeting, the fisherman pushed his wife and child out the door, slinging a blanket over the doorway and another over the window. He sat me down in the dark, offered a Javanese cig arette, lit one for himself, then sat down crosslegged on the floor next to me. He gripped my ankle as he began to explain his situation. He spoke quickly, in broken Indonesian, which was good, since | could never have followed his story had he spoken so quickly in Balinese. Essentially what he had to say was this: that he was a poor and ignorant fisherman blessed with a loving wife and many children, and that despite his steady and enthusiastic propiti- tion of the local gods and ancestors, he had been unable to catch any fish for the last six months. This was especially upsetting since before that time he had been one of the most successful fishermen in the village. He said it was evident to everyone in the village that his present difficulties were the result of some left-handed magic; clearly a demon had been induced by some sorcery to take up residence in the hull of his fishing boat. and was now frightening the fish away from his nets. Furthermore, he knew that another fisherman in the village had secretly obtained a certain talisman from a priest. a magic shell that made this other man’s boat fil up with fish whenever he took it out on the water. And so perhaps I. who obviously knew about such things and had some powers of my own, would be willing to workPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment some special magic on his boat so that he could once again catch enough fish to feed his family, Now, it was clear that this man was both honest and in earnest (his grip on my poor ankle had increased considerably), but | had been in this position before, and though less discon- certed by it than | had been five months earlier, | was still reluctant to play very deeply with- in the dream-space of a culture that was not my own. And so | explained to Gedé (one of his many names) that my magic was only good for things like making coins vanish or causing fruit to appear (| plucked a ripe banana out of the darkness, making him laugh), that my magic was useless when it came to really practical matters. Besides, | told him, | had never worked with fish, but was sure (since they could breathe underwater and all) that their own powers were even more potent than mine; if a demon was frightening them away, he or she was cer- tainly beyond my influence. Gedé nodded in agreement, released my ankle and changed the subject. After a few minutes he led me to the doorway and thanked me for coming. | felt sure | had convinced him with my excuses. But perhaps | had failed to take into ‘account the Balinese habit of self-effacement before accepting praise (Saya bodoh, “I am stu- pid." any Balinese healer will reply when told that he or she is skillful), including, apparently, the praise and respect implied in being offered a difficult task. Unaware, | walked along the beach toward the little bamboo hut | had procured for the night, As the sun sank into the land, the moon rose from the ocean, pale white, nearly full. In the distance, between the ris- ing and the lowering, sat the great volcano silently looming on the horizon. That night | had difficulty falling asleep. A weird symphony of chirping crickets accompa- nied the chorus of frogs gurgling in unison outside my hut. Sometimes this loud music stopped all at once - leaving only the faint lapping of waves and the afternoon rain dripping off the night leaves. Toward midnight | was awakened by a persistent tapping at the window. | stumbled to my feet and lifted the thin slab of wood - there was Gedé, grinning nervously. He hissed that we must attempt the magic now, while the others were asleep. In an instant | understood the sit- uation - that Gedé was not taking no for an answer, or rather, that he had taken my refusal as an acceptance - and | found myself, oddly enough. giving in to the challenge this time without hesitation. Wrapping a sarong around myself, | recalled the dream from which Gedé's tapping had awakened me: | had been back in the states, performing strange, hypnotic magic for sea monsters in a nightclub that was actually an aquarium. Just before waking, | had heard one monster applauding; his clapping had become the tapping at my window. Now, looking around hastily for something to use, | grabbed an empty Coke bottle | had tossed in the cor- ner, then, on an inspiration, dug in my backpack for some flashpaper I'd brought from the states. (Flashpaper, @ common tool of the stage magician, is thin paper that has been soaked in a magnesium solution. When crumpled and ignited it goes up in a sudden, bright flash, leaving no ashes behind-wonderful stuff.) | shoved the flashpaper into a fold in my sarong and, gripping the Coke bottle, hurried outside where Gedé was fidgeting anxiously. When he saw me, he turned and led the way down to the beach We walked quickly along the water's edge to where the boats were resting on the sand, their long, painted hulls gleaming in the moonglow. As we walked, Gedé whispered to me that the fishermen don’t go out fishing on nights when the moon is full or nearly full, since the fish can then see the nets. Only on such a night as this could we accomplish the magic in secret, while the other fishermen slept. He stopped before a sleek blue and white boat, somewhat longer than most of the others, and motioned for me to help him. We lifted the 8Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment bamboo outriggers and slid the craft into the dark water. | hopped back onto the beach and scooped my Coke bottle full of the black, volcanic sand, then waded back out and climbed into the boat with Gedé. Really a long dugout canoe with limbs ~ the two bamboo outriggers and a short, roughhewn mast near the bow ~ it rested on the swells while Gedé unrolled a white triangle of sail and hoisted it from a beam on the mast. The breeze rose up and the boat glided silently into the night. Overhead, the moon drifted behind a cloud and set the whole cloud glowing. The volcano, luminous, watched and waited In the Balinese universe, the volcano provides a sort of gateway to and from the upper world, the world of the ancestors, of the gods. The sea, meanwhile, provides passage to the lower world of demons; these destructive forces are known to reside in the black depths of the waters that surround the island. Consequently, those islanders who live near the shore, and especially the fishermen who make their living on the water, are a highly nervous and wary bunch, and they partake even more than the average Balinese of the animistic rites and ceremonies of protection for which the island is famous. At this point in my journey I was only beginning to sense what | would later see clearly: that while the magicians of all traditional cultures are working fundamentally toward the same mystery, the magic of each culture takes its structure from the particular clues of the region, that is, from the particular powers of earth to be found only there ~ whether volcanoes, or wind, or ocean, or desert ~ for magic evolves from the land. The wind shifted, became cooler. | moved close to where Gedé sat in the stern guiding the rudder, and asked him why it was so necessary for us to work in secret. "So other fishermen not jealous." he explained softly. He lit himself a cigarette. After some time | turned away from him and slipped a piece of flashpaper, crumpled, into the mouth of the Coke bottle. The beach was a thin silver line in the distance. | told Gedé that I thought we were out far enough for the magic to take effect, and he agreed. As | took down the sail, | wedged the rest of the flashpaper under a splinter near the top of the mast. Gedé heaved an anchor over the side, then settled back into the stern, watching me carefully. How to improvise an exorcism? | leaned with my back against the mast, emptying my mind of thoughts, feeling the rock and sway of this tiny boat on the night waters. Small waves slapped against the hull, angrily at first, then softer, more playful, curious. Gradually something regular established itself - the swaying took on a rhythm, a steady rock and roll that grew in intensity as my body gave in to the dance. Phosphorescent algae glimmered like stars around me, The boat became a planet, and | leaned with my back against the axis of the world, a tree with roots in the ocean and branches in the sky, tilting, turning. Without losing the rhythm, I began to move toward the rear of the boat, keeping it rocking, swinging the bottle of black sand around myself in circles, from one hand to the other. When. I reached Gedé | took the cigarette from his hand, puffed on it deeply once or twice, then touched the lit end to the mouth of the bottle. A white flash of fire exploded from the bottle with 2 'Whooshh," propelled by the pressure inside, a wild spirit lunging for air. Gedé sat bolt upright, with his arms quivering, grasping the sides of the hull. | motioned for him to cup his hands, he did so, and | tipped the bottle down, pouring a small mound of spiritsand onto his fingers. There were little platforms affixed symmetrically around the hull Platforms upon which Gedé, when fishing, would place his lanterns to coax the fish up from the depths. | moved around to each of them, nine in all, the cardinal points of this drifting planet, and carefully anointed each one with a mound of sand, | then sat down in the bottom,Paul Harris The Art of Astonishmont of the carved-out hull and planted my hands against the wood, against the inside of that hol lowed-out tree, waiting to make contact with whatever malevolent presence slumbered beneath the chiseled surface. | felt the need for a sound, for some chant to keep the rhythm, but | could think of nothing appropriate, until a bit of Jewish lituray sprang to my lips from somewhere, perhaps from my own initiation at age 13. | sang softly. The planet heaved and creaked, the hollow tree roiled from from side to side, the upright tree with roots in the sea swung like a pendulum against moon-edged clouds. At some point the moon itself rolled out from a cloud pocket and the whole mood shifted = sharp shadows slid back and forth across the wood. Somewhere inside me another planet turned: | began to feel slightly sick. | stood up and began weaving from one side of the boat to the other, sweeping the mounds of sand off the platforms. When | came to the fisherman | reached into the sky above him and produced another cigarette, already lit, from the dark. | felt a fever flushing my forehead and cheeks. | held the cigarette first to his mouth, then to my own, and we each took a puff on it. | held my breath, walked back rather dizzily. and blew a long line of smoke from the bottom to the top of the mast Then | touched the cigarette to the paper wedged in up among the invisible branches. A rush of flame shot into the sky. Instantly | felt better the fever was gone, the turning stopped, the little boat rocked on the waves. | tured to Gedé and nodded. A wide grin broke across his face and he tossed the sand, still cupped in his hand, over his head into the water. We drew anchor, hoisted the sail, and tacked back to the village with Gedé singing gaily at the rudder. I had to leave the coast the next day to begin work with a healer in the interior, but | promised Gedé | would return in a month or so to check on the results of my impromptu exor- cism. Five weeks later | returned, with mounting trepidation, to the fishing village. | found Gedé waiting for me with open arms. | was introduced to his family, presented with gifts, and stuffed with food. The magic had been successful. The fishing business was thriving, as was appar- ent from the new gate and the new building Gedé had had built to house the family kitchen, After the meal Gedé took me aside to tell me of his new ideas, projects he could accomplish if only he had a little magic help. | backed off gracefully, paid my respects, and left the village. feeling elated and strange |. am scribbling the last words of this story at a table in the small Vermont nightclub where I have been performing magic this winter. Tonight | was doing mostly card magic, with some handkerchiefs and coin stuff thrown in for good measure. Some hours ago a woman grabbed my arm, "How?" she gasped. "How did you do that?" “really don't know" | told her. | think there's something honest in that. 10NEW STUFFPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment 2Paul Hats The Art of Astonishment “Should the shape of astonishment be trimmed to fit the linguistic curtain...and if so should it be dry cleaned?” THE SHAPE OF ASTONISUMENT EFFECT - You cover a borrowed quarter with a small square of aluminum foil (which can be initialed). You carefully rub the foil with your fingertips to create a rubbing which repli- cates the heads-up quarter..so the engraved image of George is copied onto the foil. The detailed heads engraving takes a bit of time You drop out the real headsup quarter onto someone's hand. She turns it tails up..and the fragile foil head imprint suddenly turns tails up too! The disembodied shape peers out from the empty square of foil - preparing to surrender to the shape of astonishment SECRET FOIL FACT - Carefully sculpted coin rubbings will completely re-sculpt into other shapes with just 2 quick press of your thumb, STEP ONE. - Get out a fresh threeinch square of foil and borrow a quarter. (Any hunk of fresh foil will work. It doesn’t have to be square or three inches, This just gives us some- thing to talk about) If you feel the need you can have your spectator initial one corner of the foil with a Sharpie. Openly place the quar- ter headsside up on your left fingertips and Cover it with the foil (FIG, 1) 13 Hold the foil steady as you use both thumbs to make the heads-up imprint as in FIG. 2.Paul Havis The Art of Astonishmant Take at least twenty seconds to complete the “not so easy’ sculpting process. (in realty you could just press down on the coin to instantly engrave the fol. but to properly posi tion the spectators mind, it must !ook like takes some serious effort and time to make the rubbing.) Ike to let the spectator give the final image a few rubs herself to give it the personal touch STEP TWo - As your thumbs put in the finishing rubs your right fingers secretly fli the quarter under the foil so its tails-side up. To flip the quarter allow its right edge to swing down a bit. (Your left fingers hold its opposite edge against the foil) As the fingers of both hands adjust the foil, your right fingertips press against the coin's lower edge to secretly flip it over. The fol gives you plenty of cover for his nommove, Adjust the fol to make sure the cubbing lines up with the top of the coin. Display the heads-up rub- bing. Point out a few details like the date and the expression on George's face. You want everyone to remember that the fil imprint is of a heads-up quarter. STEP TUREE - Openly press the right side of your right thumb firmly against half of the rubbing as in FIG, 3. (Your right thumb now covers half of the eagle) If you peeked at the rubbing now half of it would be transformed to the taibside image. 14 Hold the foil and its covered coin with your right fingers as your left hand lets go to reach out and direct someone to hold aut @ palm-up hand. As your left hand gently grasps her hand, your right thumb secretly rolls across the rest of the rubbing exactly as if you were laying down an inked thumbprint. This thumb position obscures the new etched image. This secret thumb-press happens in a flash.and is com- pletely covered by the act of reaching out for the spectator’s hand (FIG. 4) STEP FOUR. - Direct the spectator to place her palmvup hand about two inches beneath the foil as you allow the covered coin to drop from your right fingertips. where it will do a halfturn and land heads-up onto her palm. This invisible turn over will be automatic as long as the coin was held at its edge before the drop, To your spectator, you made a heads-up rub- bing.then dropped the heads-up coin onto her hand. If by chance the coin lands tails-up its no big deal. Just turn the coin over as you reposition it on her hand.Paul Hanis The Art of Ast STEP FIVE. - Casually move the foil away from her hand as you tell her to turn over the heads-up coin to show its tails side. Have her cover the coin with her other hand and tell her to concentrate on trying to make a good impression. Allow your right thumb to move away from its cover position as you wave the foil over her hands (and tails-up quarter). Wave the foil just fast enough to keep the tails-rub bing @ blur..t's still supposed to be heads-up. Bring the foil to a gradual stop to transform the heads-up” rubbing into a tails (FIG. 6) NOTE. - Instead of using your thumb to hide the changed imprint you can just clip the edge of the foil between your thumb and forefinger and let it hang with its edge toward your aud ence. FOL. FACT ~ You will get crisper transfor mations when you use a new unwrinkled square of foil.(heavy duty is better). * Work-Shopped with ANDRE HAGEN, one of Madison's premier neat guys. Years of expe rence have taught André that very few things i lif aro actually worth doing. Camping in the desert and contemplating the shape of aston- ishment are among his chosen few. 15 PLooTNoTE. - To make it easier to align the flippedover coin with the rubbing 5 you start 10 make the rubbing, bend one side of the foil down right at the coin’s edges This creates a tactile guide to keep the flipped: over coin in alignment UNLMTED SulAPcS Once you've made a coin rubbing, the change can be to anything. By gluing bits of stuff to the other side of a double-headed coin you can make numbers or initials or evocative h themselves onto the first normal heads-up rubbing. Maybe the first image could weirdly distort and change shape. Instead of @ coin you could work with an etched medallion oF a piece of jewelry or an engraved piece of stone or a hunk of fossil or I don’t know what Just don't limit yourselt..it's not your natural shape.Paul Harts The Art of Astonishment 16Paul Haris he Art of Astonishment WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY ick up @ piece of sealed junk mail, the kind with a cellophane window. Look it ‘over. Nothing can get in...nothing can get out unless you rip it open. This is not good or bad. Its just the nature of sealed junk mail. Now grab a business card. You're about to alter the laws of nature... by sneaking through the win- dow. EFFECT - The hostess asks if you'd mind ‘doing something?” You send her out to gather all her unopened mail . She bring letters, bills, junk mail, postcards etc. and dumps it on the coffee table. You select three pieces of sealed junk mail and pass them to the company for inspection. The rest is put aside, And then everyone signs your business card in preparation for a little game. You openly slide the signed business card between the three envelopes then carefully arrange them on the table so the card stays hidden, “Which one is the card hiding under?” Someone notices the edge of the card peeking slightly out so it's an easy call. The guests are a little disappointed. They had hoped to see something astonishing. You try again..carefully arranging the three envelopes so the signed card stays concealed, A quest points to an envelope, picks it up. ‘There's no card. She picks one of the remain- ing two envelopes, again no card. She picks up the third envelope and it isn’t there either. The card's not on the table, not in your hands or on your lap or on the floar. The signed card has vanished. Pretty neat. The guests are happy. They experienced a minor moment of astonishment. You then have one of the guests select one Of the three envelopes. You ask the hostess to check and see that it's sealed. She knows it is, but checks anyway. She tears it open and inside is the signed business card HOUSE Wor - All you need is twenty seconds alone with a piece of borrowed mail that contains a cellophane window. Take @ knife or sharp-edged business card and press it carefully up between the edge of the clear window and the envelope (FIG. 1). 7Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Use the edge of the card or knife to unglue/slice the whole top edge of the cello- phane window..at the point where the cello- phane sticks to the INSIDE of the envelope. This leaves you with an EXAMINABLE sealed envelope that has an invisible trap door at the top of the “solid” cellophane window. Go back to your hostess and try to look innocent WINDOW TEST - Slide your business card into the slit and into the envelope to make sure that the portion of the envelope above the slit is large enough to conceal the card. Remove the business card and put your window of opportunity back with the other mail STEP ONE. - If the situation calls for i (never force these things) have all the available ‘ail brought to you. If you have to use open ‘mail as well as your prepared envelope, so be it. But try to get three unopened pieces STEP TWO - Pull out three envelopes and pass them around, Make sure your gaff is one of them, Put the rest of the mail aside. Get out a business card and have everyone sign it. STEP THREE - Take the envelopes back in 2 stack and hold them in your right hand, Pick up the signed card with your left hand and ‘openly slip it between the bottom two envelopes. Mix them a litle, keeping the card hidden in the pile. Place the envelopes in @ row on the table, the hidden card going under any one envelope, but arrange to innocently have the card sticking out just a hair as in FIG, 2. They guess. They're right. You're deeply depressed. Li 18 STEP FOUR. - Rearrange the envelopes so the gaffed envelope is on the bottom, with the window up and the slit to the left STEP FIVE - Slide the signed card between the bottom two envelopes and ditect- ly into the slit. Take your time, and do it right. You can look right at the window and slide in the card. To the audience, you're just trying to make sure the card is welthidden. STEP Sik - Awkwardly mix the envelopes around a little, pretending to be extra careful “not to expose the card” and deal them in a row. Openly take @ quick peek under two of the envelopes “just to be sure.” Each time someone guesses an envelope let her pick it up. Three misses and the card has cleanly van- ished. Be still and give the moment its space. This is a complete effect in itsolt You're not quite sure what happened to the card, but you have an idea STEP SEVEN - Have the mail put back in a row. You will now use the "Magician's Force’ (equivoque) to force the loaded envelope. Those of you who are confident with this skip over to Step Eight. Magicians FORCE Ask the spectator to place her left hand on any envelope. If she puts it on the loaded one calmly pick up the other two and put them aside, with the rest of the mail. You're done. If her hand lands on one of the other envelopes simply continue your sentence as if you always meant to say “..and put your right hand on another.” Her right hand is either on or not on the loaded envelope, So Hf her right hand is not on the loaded enve- lope you again continue your sentence as if this was always the plan, “and put those two aside.” Point to the other mail. She is left with the loaded envelape. You're done. If her right hand did land on the gaff, say “Stay right there.” and toss the remaining enve- lope with the rest of the mail. Look her right in the eye and say “Pick up those two...” (Wait til she does) ~..and hand either one to me.”Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment If she hands you the loaded envelope you say “You could have handed me that one, couldn't you? But you gave me THIS one.” As you say this, gesture for her to put down the one she holds. Just point at it es you say “that one” and then over to the mail that has been put aside. Shell put it away without you saying a word about it. You're done If she keeps the loaded envelope just take the one she hands you and toss it with the cest of the mail saying, “You could have kept either envelope, but you kept THAT one.” You're done. STEP EIGLIT ~ Have your hostess check out the envelope to make sure i's completely sealed. (I doesn't occur to people to probe the window for a trap door) Difect her to open her sealed piece of personal junk mail, window: side down. (Window'side down just in case the business card decides to make a surprise appearance inside the window. ) She rips it open and discovers that nestled next to a 20% off on a lube job coupon is the personally signed business card, You've unleashed @ moment of deep astonishment. This is a good thing. If she offers you the coupon then every cone goes home a winner 19 PUsotNoTe. - + To be extra safe, tear open the envelope yourself. This avoids the small risk of a specta tor accidently poking out the window. + You can simplify the handling by one-third by just using two envelopes. + If you want to use your own empty sealed window-envelope - After you load the business ard you can tap the envelope so the card slides to the other end. When you are ready to reveal the business card inside the envelope, you can tap the envelope so the card pops into view behind the cellophane window. With this approach you must take care that the business card is not visible through the walls of the envelope + WorkShopped with ERIC MEAD..who con tributed the briliant boldness of openly loading the card during the guessing game.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment 20Poul Harts The Art of Astonishment HOT CHOCOLATE his piece was born in an attempt to move ‘The Dehydrated Deck" principle away from the cards, out from under the table and directly into your spectator's face. CFFECT - While standing around just about anywhere, you pull a folded-up wad of Hershey barlike paper from your wallet. It's slowly unfolded and yes..it turns out to be an empty Hershey wrapper. You give @ quick blow into the wrapper to inflate it into a genuine choco- late bar. Suddenly, everyone wants to be your pal CLOSET WoRK - You need two bars of Hershey's Chocolate. (Hershey's works best because they're flat.) Take the outer brown ‘wrapper off one bar, crush it up, open up the wrinkled wrapper and slip it back on the bar. This will later masquerade as the empty wrap- per. Slide the outer brown wrapper off of the other bar. Carefully unfold the innerfoil wrap- per and remove the chocolate. Eat the choco- late, Re-fold the foil as if it contained the choco- late, Slide it back into the outer wrapper just like it came, and fold the whole thing into a small packet, Stick this packet into your wallet, and slide your wallet into your right rear pocket Put the real bar {in wrinkled wrapper) in your lett rear pocket. Timing counts here. The chocolate will be OK for a few minutes unless you have an abnormally high buttock tempera- ure STEP ONC - During a moment of low attention, put both hands behind your back Pull the chocolate bar from your left pocket. and your wallet from your right. Stil behind your back, open your wallet, and rest it over ‘the chocolate bar on your left hand. It must be completely hidden STEP TWWd - Bring the open wallet out with your left hand. If you tip it down slightly the hidden candy bar won't be seen (FIG. 1) Your right hand reaches in, and removes the folded wrapper. Now is the time to gently guide their attention to what you are doing, atPaul Haris The Are of Astonishment STEP THREE - Slowly unfold the wrapper on top of your open wallet. Pick up the flat- tened out wrapper with your right hand, and hold it so it’s oriented the same as the hidden bar under the wallet (FIG 2). The letters on the wrapper must face the same direction for the switch to be deceptive. STEP FOUR. - Look directly at someone and ask “Do you like chocolate?” At this moment of misdirection your right fingers put the empty wrapper under your wallet as they take the wallet from the left hand. In a continu- ing action, your left hand brings the real candy bar out from under the wallet to the left (FIG, 3). Done correctly this is a very casual and deceptive switch. (Note ~ it feels just like the packet switch from “A Subtle Poker Move.") 22 STEP FIVE - Without breaking eye contact, put your wallet with its hidden wrapper behind your back...where you close your wallet, and stuff it into your pocket STEP 5K - Bring the wrinkled bar up near your mouth, and pretend to inflate it. Don't get cartied away here, just @ couple of short pul. STEP SEVEN - Slide the foitwrapped bar from the brown wrapper, unwrap the chocolate 50 everyone can smelt. Make them beg and grovel for a chanice to examine it with their face ALMOST-AS-CFFECTIVE OPTION Delete the wallet and switch sequence. Produce the chocolate directly from your back pocket and hand it out for a taste test. PLo Note. - Producing the full-size Hershey bar creates a maximumioad spectacle but takes @ bit of finesse because of its size and tendency to break or melt while waiting in your pocket. | happen to be a sucker for Hershey bars so my extra efforts are always rewarded. For an easier but not quite as emo- tionally satisfying handling, you can do this with a smaller, denser slab of delight lke a Kit Kat bar or a chocolatecoated toffee or a Nougats‘rus. If you have a really big wallet you could try for @ poptart but then you'd have to produce a toaster and it starts to lose that impromptu feel.Paul Haris The Art of Asi THE ANYTHING DECK [FFE.CT - For reasons unknown you remove a secret packet of cards from your wal let and secure them under the card case. You then get a seeker to dig deep into her soul and come up with @ personal, meaningful magic word. Let's say her magic word is “ROSE.” You use “ROSE” to help you locate a selected card, then reveal that the name of the card is also written on the card case. You're a mighty fine card guesser. But what about the secret pack- et? You SLOWLY, CLEANLY AND OPENLY spread the packet to display large bold letters inked onto the back of the cards..spelling out a single word: ROSE. So now what? What do you say? Into what context can you put this moment of astonish ment that would make this a meaningful pos! tive experience. Hrmmmm. Depends upon her personal associations with her power word, her perception of your intent, where you've posi tioned her mind and how deep you want to take her. 23 THE ANYTHING THEORY - The deck is a disguised collection of "moveable type" which you can arrange into just about ANY word under cover of a simple card location. Then it's just a matter of traffic contol to get the word cards under the case. ARTS AND CRAFTS PORTION - Ir take about 20 minutes to make up your “Anything Deck” You'll need a deck of cards containing all 54 cards, a fresh magic marker and four extra cards from a matching deck. Open up your 84-card deck and shuffle it Put three cards aside for now, The rest of the cards go face down in front of you. Carefully write the letter A about an inch tall and half of fan inch wide on the LEFT side of the top face- down card. The exact size and position is shown in FIG. 1. (For the best contrast use a red deck and a thick black marker, or use one of the fancy two-tone markers that outline in silver or gold.)Paul Haris The Are of Astonishment Create another A in the same position on the back of the next card - and then two B's on the next two cards after that. Continue drawing a double alphabet on the 51 cards so that when you're done you have TWO of every letter - EXCEPT for Q, X and U. You only have CONE of those. That's so you can have THREE E's and THREE A’s. ( Which ate extra letters you'll use a whole lot more than a Q. X or U.) The deck is now arranged in alphabetical order starting with the two A’s on top. Diop the three unmarked cards face down on top of the face-down spread. One of these will be your force card, so it goes on the top of the deck. (We're using the Two of Hearts.) Use the heavy marker to draw a large Two of Hearts on the back of the case so the image is instantly identifiable, Put the four extra cards ([rom the other deck) somewhere handy. The Anything Deck goes into its box. You're now ready to unleash a major MO.A, STEP ONG. - Bring out the case, writing side down, and remove the deck. Close the flap and put the case aside to your right so it’s angled. (This position is for later so your left hand can easily grasp the case by its sides without re-adjusting.) STEP TWO - Hold the pack in left-hand dealer grip. Casually riffle a couple of cards near the middle with your left thumb to check where the letters are. Be sure no one else can see inside in case you'te looking at the marked side. If by chance the letters are not on the left side of the deck, turn the deck so they are. (You could mark one side of the deck with a pencil dot, but then you'd always be fighting the urge to erase it.) STEP THREE - Table the deck and spread from right to left, The deck should appear com- pletely normal and unmarked. (Ifthe letters are showing say something like “ah yes. the alphe- bet ~ how nice.” Then quietly put the cards ‘away, walk out of the room and never come back.) 24 STEP FOUR, - Bring out the extra four-card packet and openly slide it face down under the case. (| like to take the packet out from my wak let so the cards seem to have been set aside for a “special purpose.”) The packet should be held so no one except you knows exactly how many cards it contains. Say something like, “Here's a few secret cards for later. STEP FIVE. - Spend some quality time with your seeker and have her dig deep for a powerful magic word (see “Magic Word" for details), Well assume the magic word is ROSE, STEP Sik - Gather up the cards, keeping them face down with the letters on the left side. Hold the facedown deck in left-hand dealing position, Slip-cut the top card into the center by using your right fingers to pull the top half to the right. retaining the force card with your left thumb (FIG. 2). As you replace the upper half, catch a break between the halves with your left little finger. (You now have a break above the force card) STEP SEVEN - Lightly riffle your left thumb down through the deck’s upper left ‘corner and ask your magic buddy to call out her magic word. Stop riffling at that point and instantly lift off all of the cards above the break with your right hand, creating the misguided impression that you cut to the spot you were stopped at. (Yes indeed, it’s a riffle force.) STEP EIGHT - Turn the left section down fas you thumb off the top card onto the table face up. (The wrist turn hides the marked back of the next card as the top card is dealt.) Put the left-hand cards face down carefully under the righthand one:STEP NINE. - Hold the deck so its face is toward the audience, and the secret letters on the back are toward you. (The letters are on the left) STEP TEN - Begin spreading through the cards “to feel the faces of the cards for clues about the spectator's card.” (You're actually looking at the backs of the cards so you can see the letters.) First pull out the top unmarked card. Let its normal back be seen then drop it face up onto the table. Now as you spread through the cards, pull out the ones with the letters that spell the magic word. You'll be going back and forth through the deck as you search through the alphabet to find the right letters, Try to make the cards you toss out seem randomly inspired. In this case the next card is the “R” of her magic word “ROSE.” Place it face up onto the tabled card so its secret letter is to the left, (Remove the card from the spread by its upper end and place it dawn so the lower end points away from you.) Then the “O" card goes face up on top of the “A”, Be careful not to flash the letters. Continue until “ROSE” is secretly spelled (on the back of the tabled stack from. the bottom up) As you toss out the “random’ clue cards, say things like "This is a black card, so the one you picked can't be black, This next one tells me it can't be a face card. These two tell me it’s not an ace and it’s lower than an eight.” Make up anything you want, and then announce the name of the card you forced STEP ELEVEN - Table the deck face down, with its marks to the left, and spread it (Tight to left) across the table to display normal cards STEP TWELVE - Reveal your lucky guess by turning the force card face up, then use it to scoop up the face-up word packet so the force card ends up at the back. Take this pack- et with your right hand, and pick up the deck with your left. Drop the word packet face down. onto the deck (so the stacked letters are on the right side) and hold a break between the deck and the packet with your left pinky 25 Slip-cut the top card into the deck, retaining your break beneath the word packet. (The slip- cut leaves the hazy impression that the entire packet was cut into the center of the deck. The exact nature of this cut is of no great interest to your audience.) STEP TUIRTEEN - Comment that you had a backup plan in case you guessed wrong Your left hand is holding the deck with a break below the word packet (one cover card and then the word). Turn your left deck-hand palm down to pick up the box by its sides (which you've previously positioned for an easy grab) ‘The packet above the break goes squarely onto the box (FIG. 3) as you pick up the box and turn your left hand palm up to reveal the writ. ten case prediction. ‘Your right fingers immediately grasp the box by its ends... picking up the box along with the PACKET above the break (FIG. 4)..and sets the box back down onto the tabled packet, This secretly loads the word packet onto the other four cards that are tabled under the box (FIG. 5).Poul Harris The Art of Astonishment This all happens in two seconds. The audi: ence sees you pick up the box and tum it over to reveal its written prediction. This is perfect misdirection for stealing the packet off the deck. (All eyes will be on the case prediction during the brief moment that the tabled four- card packet is exposed). “Predicting your card was only a 52 to one shot.” Spread the deck face down (right to left again) to show normal cards. Just a mild warm-up for something that will make her whole body smile and turn her into walking happy face. Scoop up the facedown deck into your left hand, STEP FOURTEEN - Your empty right fin- gers lift the box off the tabled packet. Box the deck and put it away. Slide off the bottom two normal cards from the face-down packet. Display them as you say Do you notice anything unusual about these secret cards...” Then place the two cards on top of the packet (centering the word between three normal cards on top and two on the bot- tom), "How about now? STEP FIFTEEN - Turn the packet so your spectator will be able to read the writing, then slowly spread the cards to reveal her personal magic word Deep astonishment. Let it breathe. TO RESET - Put the magic word cards back into the deck in their correct alphabetical spots and the three norvalphabet cards back on top of the deck. Box the deck and put the extra four cards back into your pocket or wallet and once again you're ready for anything 26 TUE Magic Warp - Direct her toward a word that has no more than six or seven letters. Less is better. Do a uick mental spell to be sure that all the letters you need are in “The Anything Deck’. On the rare occasion you can’t use a word just direct, her toward a “more potent” word, When you ask for a powerful magic word, most people will say something uninspired like presto or chango. Tell your wordsmith it's too common, that she should try for a special word, @ word that’s personally magical. A word ‘or name that when she hears it something lights up inside and says “howdy” (try to avoid the word “howdy"). This usually leads in a bet- ter direction, The more powerful the imagery the word evokes in your spectator the more powerful the final moment of astonishment PUootNote - You can pump up the power of the imagery by doing this with Tarot cards where you do a reading with the random cards. Don't mess with this until you understand the nature of the game or you could find yourself pissing in someone's church, When authentically pre sented (with Tarot imagery) this can take peo- ple over the line and zero them out. You've got to be there with a gentle nurturing non-ego presence or it's just another irresponsible use of deep astonishment * Workshopped with my good buddy PATRICK SNOWDEN who also convinced his wife Bonnie into thinking that Fm somewhat normal. (This didn’t hold up for long but it was a noble effort).Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLYFISH EFFECT - A peanut butter and jelly sand- wich is on @ napkin; resting on the palm of your hand. Suddenly, the top slice starts to move, floats eerily above the rest of the sand: wich, and sort of dances around in the ait. The PBB settles back to where it started. You eat it DIRTY WoRK - The paper napkin on your hand (it should be large enough to completely cover your hand) has a hole in it that your mid- dle finger can be pressed straight up through thus effectively insulting the top slice of bread When you make the sandwich, spread the peanut butter and jelly both on one piece of bread. Make @ hole in the center of this bread and then rest the clean slice on top of it. The napkin goes on your hand, and the sandwich goes on the napkin. The hole in the napkin should line up with the hole in the botton of your sandwich (FIG. 1) Both holes go right aver the base of your middle finger (FIG. 2) 27 Or simply poke @ finger through the napkin and lower slice to create your giramick on the run, STEP ONC. - Arrange your life so that your audionce views this from above. tt helps to lower your hand with the sandwich to your waist level STEP TWO - Your other fingers keep the lower slice anchored 2s you slowly press your middle finger up through the holes causing the upper slice to rise up off the sandwich as in FIG, 3 (make sure you've got the balence right.) Now wiggle the finger back and forth to make the top slice dance.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishmene STEP THREE - Allow the bread to settle back down onto the sandwich. Pull your finger out of the hole back under the napkin. Pick up the sandwich and take a bite, while your other hand crushes the napkin to hide the hole, Casually wipe your finger with the crushed napkin, and don't allow anyone to see the underside of your lunch ‘till you've eaten the evidence. FAST-FOOD FLOAT - You can do the same effect with a burger or a flying fish fillet VERSION #2 - This is done as a quickie gross-out to enhance the digestion process. The setup is pretty much the same, except when you press your finger up into the sand- wich, get it all covered with a big glob of peanut butter and jelly so it can’t be recog- nized as a finger. This disguised finger pokes through just enough to pass as an alien peanut butter creature. STEP ONE - Comment that this was sup- posed to be a peanut butter and banana sand- wich. 28 STEP TWO - Use your free hand to openly litt off the upper piece of bread. The hole and your finger should be completely covered by the glob. Wiggle your finger around, and calm ly comment, “Is a banana slug! (It should really look ike a living something is squirming under the peanut butter) STEP TUREE - Quickly press the upper slice back in place and pick up the sandwich. (Pull out your finger and crush the napkin just ike in the first version.) Take a big bite to make Mr. Slug go to sleep, STEP FOUR - Chew slowly. PuotNote - * Combine the two versions by commenting that there seems to be something in your sand- wich. Animate the upper slice so it jiggles around, then reveal the surprise inside. This performance art sandwich is an Academy ‘Award winner for junior astonishees. Or you an do it to entertain yourself when no one’s looking. * In the nottoo-didtant past, Elmsley, Andrus, Dingle and Fearson have used this same principle to float a small packet of cards off of a deckPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment RUMPLED SPLITSKIN CFFECT - You give a special someone two folded, signed, business cards to hold in her hand. She utters the magic name “Rumpled Splitskin” and the two signed cards merge into a single seamless unit..leaving one card per manently bonded INSIDE the layers of the other card. This is something your client will cherish forever and ever until something better comes along PREP ~ You need a stack of your business cards and a glue stick. Take one of your cards and carefully peel back one layer of the paper 3/4 of the way across (FIG. 1). (Depending on the card stock, you may have to go through a few cards to get a clean split). Lay another card crosswise between the lay ers of paper, and glue the split card back together as in FIG. 2. Fold the ends of the inner card down and around to the backside (FIG. 3), Put this gaff second from the top of your stack of business cards and snap a rubber band around them to hold things in place STEP ONE. - Bring out the cards and remove the rubber band, Develop some rap- port with your client. If the rapport part isn’t happening, give her the rubber band and call it a day. 29Paul Harts The Art of Astonishment STEP TWO - Lift off the top single card and place it down crossed-over the gaff as in FIG. 4. Fold the two protruding ends of this card onto the back of the second gaffed card. s0 it matches the look of the glued cards (FIG. 5). (You'l have to lift the gaffed card up a bit to tuck in the folded ends.) Have someone initial the exposed flat end of the gaffed card that's under the top folded card, STEP THREE. - Tip the stack toward your self slightly, and slide the glued cards out from under the single folded card (Slide it toward youself from the packet's top end.) Your left hand turns down to hide the single folded card as this is done (FIG. 6), STEP FOUR - Your right hand tables the gaff face down, without letting go of it. Have someone initial the folded ends. As they are writing on the folded card, pocket the stack along with the hidden card. STEP FIVE. - Pick up the glued cards and fold the ends of the outer card down and around the other side as in FIG. 7. All four ends of the two cards are folded against each other. Press this packet between someone's palms. After suitable build-up, allow her to open up the cards and discover the double cross. EVEN BETTER - Secretly get hold of someone's business card and create the gaff by combining their card with your card. (The spectator’s card is the one that gets folded under) Put the gaff on top of your packet of normal cards and your set. Borrow the match- ing business card, openly cross it over the gaff and continue as described ‘+ Workshopped with ERIC MEAD..who directed the traffic-control for the switch, and came up with the poetic title 30Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment ree Ride” is a convenient, no-palm way to scretly add cards to the deck any time during your performance. Although it can be used for a very direct force or open prediction offect, its real value is in adding extra or gatfed cards at a moment's notice. PRE-RIDE - Tear off the useless little case tabs and put them out of their misery. Put the card or cards you want to add into the case. Close the flap so the end of the card(s) are trapped outside the case flap, showing through the half moon (FIG. 1). If you want your card to end up on the bot: tom of the deck. place it face down in the case. To add a card to the top of the deck, put the card in face up. We'll assume the card is going to the bottom for what follows. at FREE RIDE STEP ONE. - The case (hal: moon side up) should be to your right with the flap end point- ing away from you. The point is to have the case positioned so your right hand can easily and naturally set the deck onto the box When you're ready to add the card, casually set the deck on top of the case. (You would have set the deck on the table, but the case was right there so what the hey) The face- down deck goes right on top of the card inside the case... but the deck is slightly beveled over the end of the case away from the opening (FIG, 2). Just plop the deck onto the case in the general area, The pack does not have to be square or precisely positioned. Pause a moment to chat. Crack your knuckles, pet the cat, do any normal thing that would naturally take you away from the deck for a moment.SaN NNN N Nn Un nnn TTT TTT TTT TTT EEE Poul Harris The Art of Astonishment STEP TWO - Your right fingers grab the STEP FIVE - Openly pinch the deck with ‘case and deck from above as one unit, then your left fingers and thumb.along with the hid- turn the front flap end of the box so its open den card through the half moon cutout, Your ing points toward your left fingerstips, which right hand pulls the box away to the right as in dare palm up about a foot away from the box in FIG. 4 (left hand is stil motionless) and puts “receiving” position. The following action will the box aside. The hidden card will come right put the deck back into your left hand along ut of the case and biend with the pack, You with the secret card, have successfully loaded a card (or packet) ‘STEP THREE. - Your right fingers give the onto the bottom of the facedown deck. The deck a tide by sliding the box along the table too! kit is complete. Your mind is unclouded. toward your lett fingertips. Your left hand You're ready to unleash the moment of aston- doesn't move. The right hand brings everything _Ishment. to the left hand. STEP FOUR - When the box reaches your left fingertips, press the closed flap end against your fingertips (FIG, 3). The flap will automati- cally push into the box enough for your finger- tips to get under the hidden card, (which is also the perfect logical position for the left fin- gers to grab the deck). 32.Paul Harris The Art of ARROW-SPLIT-ARROW ou give a rare demonstration of Zen and “Y. tte iv of Cord Tosang a mdtatv sll perfected after years of one-pointed practice with a common pack of cards, This is an enhancement of the classic Boomerang Card, pre-cursed by Stephen Minctis Robinhood Card EFFECT - You focus on your breath, exhale into a state of perfect repose, then extend your arm and allow a single selected card to release itself from your fingers. The tossed card effort- lessty dances through space in somewhat the same fashion as a cat mistaken for a Frisbee. Having achieved its apex of flight, the card reverses its trajectory, heads back toward the deck, then slices into the pack. For a moment, the world stops. This will happen when one forgets to inhale. You do so, then reveal that the razor-sharp edge of the boomerang card has actually RIPPED into the card beneath it The split card is turned up and seen to be the mate of the card that split it! Someone gasps, “How is that possible?” You silently hold up one finger. A student clips your nail. (This is an inside Zen joke. Don't worry about it) SECRETLY - Take out any face-down card and tear it about an inch down the middle by pulling the right side up and the left side down (FIG. 1), Note that the left part of the torn card pulls down away from the rest of the card. If you feel like having the deck shuffled by a spectator, slide the torn card into the case so it's set up for “Free Ride” (see previous effect) and can be stolen onto the bottom of the deck at any time, STEP ONE - Go through the deck and remove the mate to the torn card. Have the deck shuttled, (if you don’t want to do “Case Load” just get the torn card secretly on the bottom and remove the mate.) 33Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment STEP TWO - Place the deck on the box in “Case Load” position. Stop a second, take a deep breath, and boomerang the single card as impressively as skill permits. Do it a few times. This is @ fine ooh-ahh moment for the folks at home, plus it alerts you to any drafts or obste- cles that might interfere with your toss when it, really counts. (See PHootNotes for toss and catch handling.) STEP THREE - Pick up the deck, stealing the torn card onto the bottom, Hold it in your left hand in position to do the Charlier cut. The tear is on the left side. STEP FOUR - Toss the card boomerang style face up. As it returns, do the Charlier cut and catch the card face up in the face-down deck STEP FIVE. - Openly adjust the position of the face-up card so it's pinched in the deck by its lower-eft corner as in FIG, 2. This position is critical STEP 51K - Press up against the face-up card slightly, and slide it counter-clockwise into the deck. This will slip the face-up card into the slit (FIG. 3 shows card positioned in slit with. upper half of deck removed.) Make no attempt to hide this action. Just slide the card out a bit to highlight its precise location in the deck, then press it back in. This is actually three effects. Make sure you give each moment the space it deserves Effect 1 - you catch the card. Effect 2 - the caught card has split a second card. Effect 3 - the caught card and the split card are @ per- fect match STEP SEVEN - Spread the cards carefully between your hands, being extra careful to keep the face-up card wedged into the split ‘When you artive at the face-up card, play it like a reablife card-split has never happened before, ‘wall maybe once, centuries ago in a Tibetan monastery, and even that was just a legend. Gently lift the face-up card out of the pack 50 its split mate remains wedged and suspended from the face-up card. Slowly tilt them up. Be siill and listen for the sound of more than one hand clapping BOOMERANG NOTE - As mentioned earlier the basic technique is a meditative skill perfect- ed after years of one-pointed practice. Although you can become functionally proficient after a mere couple of hundred hours. FIGS. 1 through 3 show the one hand Charlier cut. You should get so good at this that you can get to FIG. 3 in what feels like ONE smooth non-stop action. The deck should just “open up.” the previous actions blending into one fluid moment,Paul Harris The Art af Astonishment The toss looks like FIGS. 4 and 5. The sharper the backspin the less angle required for the toss. Given an open space and a pow- erful backspin the card can achieve an almost flat trajectory. You can get the same eff without the backspin but then the card won't come back Relax and exhale as you toss the card. You need to be in a very still yet focused state to consistently achieve a good toss and catch. CATCLING THE CARD - Execute the one hand cut just as the card is tossed (all ey should be on the card), the deck stays open FIG. 6. As the spinning card boomerangs back. adjust the deck’s angle so the break is on the ame plane as the spinning card. Your deck hand “tracks the card” by moving down or back, allowing the card to catch up with the deck. Do not thrust the deck out to mest the card. You may still catch it but you'll miss more often When you miss: Drop your break and cut the slashed card back to the bottom. Pick up. the tossed card and try again. Other than that the effect is basically sett working, PUlbotNoTes - + Instead of finding the tossed card's mate, you could toss an indifferent card and use it 10 split @ previous selection. Force the split card in a way that keeps the split concealed. The good news about this is that when you miss the catch you don't have to chase down the card. You can just take another random card off the deck and try again * Force a normal card that’s a duplicate of the split card that’s on the bottom, Really lose the force card in the deck’s center. Then use any other card as the boomerang 35Paul Haris vve been chasing this piece of st years. It started with the classic any-cardatany- number problem. | was looking for a purist no- touchies shuffled-deck solution that I'd want to do on purpose. Having repeatedly hit the stu pid wall on this to the point of numbness my only option was to uplevel the game by mak: ing the problem even more impossible... in hopes that the shifting conditions would crack the construct enough to let in some light. So | unplugged from all my stale thoughts about what might be real or good or practical and allowed the “any card” to become any eight cards and the “any number” to become the any eight serial numbers on a borrowed bill in this game the spectator brings out any dollar, then shuffles the deck and freely selects any eight cards. The numbers on the eight cards exactly match the eight serial numbers on her dollar. A golden paradigm-popper, but where's the light? Inge for BAT FISUING A SCRUFFY ISLAND KID/P.L1 37 if you explore this piece for any length of time you can't help but to notice that the only elegant approach is to switch both the bor rowed bill and her eight freely selected cards for a matching set, and to minimize your expo sure and handling you'll want to switch them {as one unit at the same time. Seems simple enough until | rummage around in my tool kit and discover that | have no practical eight card/dollar switches that can take the heat. If there's the slightest hint of a switch the mys- tery will collapse into solution, which is not what we'te here for. So it's back to the stupid wall where | sat on a pillow and felt stupid for a long, long time. And since | didn’t have the slightest idea about what thought to think next my mind shifted gears to memories about an island in the South Pacific where wild bats were sold like chickens. Catching the bats was the major source of income for the scruffy island kids. Their simple solution to the batcatching prob- lem was to go sky fishing for the tasty critters by flying @ kite with baited hooks tied to the. kite string. Of course, how else would you do ipPaul Horns The Are Unfortunately none of this could practically be applied to switching a packet of eight cards and a dollar, But since | still didn’t have the slightest idea about what thought to think | gave the problem to one of the island kids. Maybe a scruffy kid with a simpler perspective would have a more direct approach, maybe something that my conditioned adult mind was too smart to consider. The kid didn’t think twice. He walked right though the stupid wall and yanked out the pil: low | was sitting on. “What..use the pillow as ‘cover for the switch? Of course, how else would you do it? PRE-BAT - Finish off your barbequed bat- burger, then look around your performing envi ronment. You want @ naturally occuring situa tion where you can sit directly across from your spectator..where there just happens to be a pi. lowsike object to your right. 1. If you‘ee sitting on the floor, @ small pillow oor magazine is great. If you'e sitting at @ table ‘you can use @ magazine, a menu, folded news ‘paper oF a legal pad or any similarsize object. ‘The whole point being that this thing is @ net tral, naturally occuring part of the landscape {hat just happens to be there. You don't want 10 be seen adjusting anything. The only skill required for the effect is to naturally find you and your spectator in this situation 2. Now get hold of an averagetooking dollar that has serial numbers that correspond to the numbers on cards..which means avoiding ser al numbers that have ones or zeros. Remove the matching spot cards from a deck (any suits) and arrange them in in a packet from the top down in the same order as the serial num: ber. 38 —— of Astonishment 3, Im a floor guy so welll assume a floor and a pillow (On the offchance that you're not a floor guy, simply translate what follows to work with a table and magazine/newspaper/ menu etc) Put the bill on the floor so its serial number side is down, then place the face- down card stack on top of the bill (FIG. 1), Note that the stack is in @ loose not-completely savared condition. Cover the dollar stack with a pillow so that the concealed stack is as close as you can get to the left side of the pillow (FIG. 2), Again, once you start, you do not want to be seen adusting the pillow or paying the slightest attention to it. This thing is just part of the floor and has nothing to do with your performance PERFORMANCE - | always do this with the now lessthan-fulh deck, If it makes you feel better you can use a full deck but since my deck is often missing cards anyway its never been an issue. STEP ONC - You and your friend have natu- rally found yourself sitting on the floor (across ‘rom each other..the pilow just to your right. Before this maybe you were on the sofa, or in another room, but now the floor seems like @ cozy place to be. STEP TWWd - Drop the deck on the floor between you and your friend and have her bring out a dollar. If she doesn’t have a dollar handy she can select one of yours..but i's bet- ter if she uses her own dollar.Paul Harris The Art of Aston Direct her to place the dollar flat on the floor so George is facing down. Use one finger to adjust the dollar so it's about an inch to the left side of the pillow. oriented like the con- cealed bill STEP TUREE - Drop the case to your left as you have her shuffle the deck so it's shut fled beyond a doubt, then have her “put it over there” (indicate the pillow). This spot could just, as easily have been the floor but there's a thing already there so what the heck. STEP FOUR - Direct her to remove one card off the top of the shuffled deck and to place it face down on top of the bill, Adjust the card with one finger so it's on the bill in about the same position as the setup. Have her con- tinue to remove face-down cards off the deck and place them onto the bill until there's @ loose stack of eight cards (FIG. 3), STEP FIVE - Say, “You shuffled and dealt the cards. | don’t want to touch anything,” and with one finger nudge the case toward her. “Pick up the box" and with the same fair hands-off attitude gently pick up the pillow so it's just off the floor as in FIG 4, and say “Pick up the deck.” I's natural for you to move the pillow slightly to the left toward your spectator, making it easier for her to take the deck. At this moment both sets of bills will be momen- tarily blocked from view by the offered pillow, 39 ‘As the deck is taken set the pillow back down on the floor so it now covers the specta- tor's stack..leaving your pre-set stack now vis ble on the right side of the pillow. Stil flowing. direct your spectator to place the deck inside its box and to put the box aside. The deed is done. Anyone paying close attention would simply see the pillow naturally being moved from one side of the bil to the other..as you naturally offered the deck to your spectator. The moment when the bil is blocked from view (where all attention will be con the deck) is enough to neutralize anyone's, specific memory of where the bill was sup: posed to be. Now it's time to sell the details. She shuffled the deck, she dealt the random cards onto her random dollar, which just happens to be the home of eight random serial numbers. Let her slowly deal through the cards one at a time as she matches them up for eight moments of astonishment PUsotNotes - + What about the stuff under the pillow? The stuff will be quite content to sit there until whenever you feel like retrieving it. Remember, the pillow is just a neutral part of the land- scape. But if this makes you twitch: Before the big reveal, direct your spectator to carefully take her dollar stack into another room so that there is no way you could be influencing what she’s about to witness. Then while she aston- ishes herself in the bathroom you can rearrange the furniture.Paul Haris The Art of Ast + When doing this for the more skeptical souls its fun to build a garden path of no return. Have them shuffle the deck @ certain ‘way, but only twice..then cut the deck into eight packets, then have her shuffle each pack- et before dealing out a card..and on down the scenic route and over the edge to ground zero. + After the spectator has placed the deck into the box (and the switch is done) you can have her remove one last card from the box and place it on top of the stack..where she then immediately picks up the stacked bill Create a little mental space by selling the details, then direct attention to the first symbol of the serial number; oops. it's a letter, so the top card's @ zonk...but all the rest are golden.Paul Hanis The Art of Astoni here is but the flimsiest of transparent membranes between what our imperfect perceptions experience as real..and the actual state of affairs. The following visual metaphor lies in wait as sucker bait for unexamined beliefs. [FFECT ~ A joyous spectator discovers that her freely selected card is the only card in the deck with a secret mark on its back. But you can't walk around with an illegally-marked card in your deck so you slide the mark off the card and onto the cellophaned case. But you don't really like having card-mark-graffiti all over your ‘almost new case so you slide the mark off onto a card you don't use very much and give it to the spactator to dispose of as she wishes, TEST INELING - Stand by with your basic write-aletter type of pon (not a sharpie) then draw a question mark on the cellophane of your card case. (You may have to tilt the pen at a creative angle to make the ink happen.) Lot the ink dry for ten seconds or so..then slide your thumb across the mark, The ink should effortlessly wipe away leaving just the clear unmarked cellophane. If the mark is stil there you need to find a different style pen. This should be a carefree sort of search that you can indulge in at your leisure. a PRE-MEM - Draw a small question mark on the back of a card (FIG.1) and put it on the face of your Bicycle deck You must now pre-mark the cellophane on the white space to the left of the big Spade (FIG. 2). Handle the case with care because any contact with the mark will cause it to no longer be, Set the empty case aside, marked- side down, flap end toward you. The slight bend of the open flap should prevent the erasable mark from touching the table. TUG ACTUAL MEM STEP ONE - Spread the faceup deck between your hands es you ask someone to point out any card that suits her fancy. Remove the face-up selection and place it onto the face of the deck. then give the deck a complete cut and turn it face down STEP TWO - As you spread through the face-down cards comment that you had prev ‘ously put a secret mark on one card. You didn’t mark the rest of the cards because you didn't want to ruin a perfectly good deckPoul Harris The Art of Astonishment ‘As you near the center of the pack, cleaniy separate each card as it slides by to make sure that you don’t accidentally pass the small mark. When your spectator discovers the “secret” mark, leave it on top of the leftthand cards, while your right hand tables it's half face up to your left (FIG. 3). STEP THREE - Obtain a leftpinky break beneath the second card as you square your left-hand spread. Double lift by grasping the two cards above the break with your right fin- gers from above by the ends. Turn your hand palm up to display the face of the marked selection (FIG. 4). (Bow the double outward for ‘a more singular look). Turn your hand palm down to turn the dou- ble face down, then slide the double onto the face of the cards as you turn them face up ‘onto your left hand..where your left thumb slides the spectator’s single face-up card off the face and into your right fingers. Your left hand then tables its cards face up square onto the other half STEP FOUR - Your left hand then retrieves the case and holds it as in FIG. 6. so your left thumb conceals the mark (without touching it) ‘As you move to slide the spectator's ‘marked card under the “unmarked” cello- phane, tilt up the end of the case to hide its. mark, as your right fingers turn it's card face down (outer end also tilted up to momentarily conceal it's unmarked back) as in FIG. 6. Slide the face down card under the cello- phane so the mark is positioned above the end of the card so it appears to be the original marked card (FIG. 7), Vibrate the card then hold the case by its sides as you allow your spectator to slowly slide out her card...where its mark slides off onto the membrane. So you've sanitized the spectator’s card by mess- ing up your squeaky-clean case, Now what? 42Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP FIVE. - Your right fingers pick up the face-up deck and transfer it to the tips of your left thumb and fingers, which hold it clear of the marked case (FIG. 8). Your right fingers double lift to show a clean back (FIG. 8) Replace the double, and as your right fingers slide off the face-up (marked) single, your left hand turns down to table the deck face down, STEP 51x ~ Tilt the card so only you can see it’s back and adjust your grip so your right thumb conceals the secret question mark. Casually allow the back of the card to be seen as your left fingers pick up the box. The box should be markedside up, flap end pointing toward you (FIG. 10). 43 {As you move to slide the card under the cel lophane, tit the audience end of the box and the card up slightly to momentarily conceal the marked surface of the case and the card where your left thumb secretly erases the mark on the case. At the same fime your right thumb slides up to the unmarked end of its card, where your right fingers swivel the card around 80 i's marked end can be slipped under the cellophane STEP SEVEN - Slide the card under the cellophane so the card's mark is in about the samo position as was the erased cellophane’s ‘mark as you untit the case where everything appears to be transparently true. The audience has just seen you slide an unmarked card under the marked cellophane membrane. The actual reality is exactly the opposite. Allow someone to hold the case as your fin- gers vibrate the card a bit..causing the ques- tion mark to penetrate the clear membrane and reattatch itself to the back of the card Slowiy slide out the card to reveal the now per manent nonsliding question mark PUbotNoTes - * Yes, you can use any small mark: a happy a spectators initials etc, (etc. is not one of the suggested marks but it could be used.) + There's an excellent chance that your left thumb will now have a smudge of ink on it This is something you'll have to deal with. + You can use the final marked card to slide directly into “Sliding Ink" (see Index). * One of my more extravagant indulgences for this used a cutout cardease back (half- moon side) that was wrapped in cellophane just like the real thing (The gaff was trimmed slightly shorter for easier concealment in a deck although a perfect fit was impossible which is something that's almost beyond my comprehension.) fac | used @ Sharpie to draw a question mark on a face-up card and slid it into the cellophane gaff, then drew a matching question mark on the inner surface of the cellophane wrapped around the real box, then slid @ duplicate unmarked card face-up under that cellophane.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment So then in performance while the audience examined the marked box and the unmarked card (which I would have forced if | had an ounce of integrity but when you have a gaff that doesn't fit your deck you start to let things slide.) Next Id hire a small child to load the gaff from my pocket onto the bottom of the deck then bestow upon someone the honor of replacing the unmarked face-up card into the marked cellophane..and as my right hand (which held the face-up deck with the never-to- be squared gaff at the back) closed the case flap, I'd actually load the cellaphane gaff direct ly onto the flap..so the flap looked closed and if you lived right most of the gaffed edges would line up (but sometimes didn’t which was not fun but still didn’t bother me half as much as the gaff NEVER being able to perfectly square with the deck.) So in a utopian angle-proof-world of improb- ably innocent onlookers everything looked exactly the same as before..and now when the card was slid out. the mark had transmor agraflamed itself from the cellophane onto the face of the card, which is something you don't see everyday. 44 The marked card was then replaced face up back under the cellophane..and as my deck hand opened the flap (for no good reason except as maybe @ ritual action to reverse the magic... but that was the least of my problems) Id steal the gaff back onto the bottom of the deck WHICH WOULD NEVER EVER REALLY FIT then drop the deck in a pocket as the specte- tor slid the now unmarked card out from the marked cellophane...sort of ending clean if you don't count the deck in my pocket and too many of these things (..) all over the page and the DEMENTED NEVER-T0-BE-SQUARED DEMON-SPAWN GAFF OF DISCIPLINE, And then | stopped and looked around and realized that none of this fit into a peaceful lifestyle of intentional simplicity so | tore the gaff up into a thousand pieces and burt the pieces and flushed them down the toilet, then blew up the toilet, then wrote this insane PHootNote, the cutsie spelling of which is not one of my finer moments, Olay..| think we should move on now.Paul Hacris The Art of Astonishment MEMBRANE. WITH A PACK OF SMOKES P.U/MEAD his is the original version of membrane which | cooked up with Eric for use at the ‘Tower Bar. In the right situation, this can be a more organic moment. EFFECT ~ A strangers initials scrawled on. a tor matchcover are slid under the cello- phane of a pack of smokes. Someone blows out a match..and as the smoke drifts over the pack, the strangers initials creep off the match cover and reattach themselves to the under- side of the transparent cellophane membrane. No one knows why it happened or what it means. The stranger and the someone exchange initials. You're not sure which one is you. Maybe something can be done. Maybe it's, all just smoke. 45 MEMMING THC ®2ANC. - Secretly write someone's initials on the outside of the cello- phane on a pack of cigarettes. Print them neat ly near the opening as in FIG. 1. A magic mark- er works best but a pen will do if you're care- ful. Now slide a blank torn-off matchbook cover, under the cellophane as in FIG. 2. This creates the illusion that the writing is on the paper under the cellophane wrap. Flip the pack writing;side down on the table STEP ONE - Openly tear off the cover of a matchbook. Write the spectators initials on the cover exactly like the ones on the cellophane then table the pen to your right. Pick up the pack of smokes and hold it in “dealing posi- tion” in your right hand so the open edge of the cellophane is toward you (the extra match cover is concealed on the bottom against your palm)Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Your right fingers slowly slide the marked cover under the top layer of cellophane so the cover is positioned like the one on the under side (FIG. 3). Notice that a tiny edge of the ini- tialed cover is left sticking out from the cello- phane. This allows for its easy removal later. STEP TWO - Ina moment, you are going to secretly reverse the pack undercover of plac ing it on the table under the pen. Let's do it once without the reverse so you can see how it feels: The pen should be at least a foot to the right of the pack. Pick up the pen with STEP THREE - Grab the remains of the your aft fingers as your right hand moves the __to™M matchcover, the part with the matches pack to the right and puts it on the table on stil attached, and light a match. Have some- the same spot where the pen was. As soon as one blow out the flame and let the smoke drift the pack hits the table slap the pen down on. around the box. Your right hand picks up the top of the pack. Wipe your hands against your ox and rests it flat against your lft fingers shirt or do some other natural gesture to show ‘Make sure your fingertips are in contact with your hands empty. Ths is your “reason” for the edge of the marked cover undemeath, putting the pack on the table..to free your Slowly begin to slide the wrapper down and hands for a moment. Now reset the scenery off the pack of cigarettes. Your left thumb and we'll do it with the reverse: keeps the blank cover on the box (FIG, 6). the other cover is kept in place by pressure from underneath (FIG. 7). Take your time as you visi- bly slide the inked initials off the paper and onto the clear cellophane. The pack is on your left, the pen is tabled about a foot to the right. While your left hand moves toward the pen, get your right thumb. under the pack. As your right hand moves the pack toward the pen, your thumb flips the pack over to the right..s0 the fake blank cover is now visible on top. (Don't do the flip all at once. Do the reverse gradually as the box cov- ers the distance to the pen as in FIG. 4). Your left arm covers the reverse. so relax) Table the pack where the pen was as you slap the pen onto the box (FIG. 5). That's it. A completely natural action to show your hands emply. Everything appears normal. 46Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP FOUR. - Once the clear wrapper is Off, toss it to the table. Then allow the blank cover to slide off the box and land next to the marked cellophane. 47 STEP FIVE. - As your right hand takes the box and tables it to the right, allow your left fingers to curl naturally around the hidden match cover, Table the box to the right. Pick up the pen with your left hand and pocket it along with the marked evidePaul Haris The Art of Astonishment 48Paul Harris The Art of Aston THE SWING THING P.U/MEAD vailable for about a dollar at most Swing Thing outlets or $ 14.95 at your local magic dealer. This revolutionary “Change Bag in a bill” is designed to invisibly exchange small objects with a single swing of the flap. There are prob- ably thousands of incredible effects that this. versatile utility device could be used for. Unfortunately, | can’t think of one worth doing, So that’s it, Oh well. Sorry, Eric - “What about an easy version of Siydini's shredded cigarette using a sugar pack ot? PH, - “You're a good buddy. Eric: ~ “1 know." CFFECT - You tear open a blue packet of Equal sugar substitute and pour its granules ‘onto a folded bill. You slowly rub the empty packet on the pile of swaetener..which is sud denly absorbed back into the packet..which seals itself good as new! Dieters around the world will rejoice. Slydini’s probably not too thiilled BEFORE YOU PERFORM - This can be done with any sugar packet (read the notes at the end of this description) but a packet of Equal makes it fun. Go to a restaurant or coffee shop, Order something healthy..and when no ‘one’s looking Hold a dollar face down and fold it to look like FIG. 1 Put an Equal packet onto the outer end and fold the center flap to cover it (FIG. 2). You now have a bill that seems to be simply folded in half, but actually hides the Equal. Slide the sweetened Swing Thing under a glass or salt shaker, disguised as a tip. » 49ne Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment STEP ONE - Pick up a matching Equal packet and tear it open. Leave the torn piece attached. Begin to pour some of the fake sugar out on your hand, then realize a mess is on the way. Look around then pick up the “tip” STEP TWO - Pour about half of the con- tents out onto the bill. Place the opened packet right onto the bill, directly above the hidden packet (FIG. 3). Equal purists will want to orient the visible packet exactly like the hidden packet 50 the printing will be exactly equal during the switch, STEP THREE - You will now seem to turn the packet over onto the loose granules but you'll actually use the folded bill to switch the packets as follows: Reach with your right fin- gers to the front of the gimmick and pinch the outer long edge of both packets together with the center flap on the bill. Turn all of it over towards yourself, (Both sugars remain flush with the front edge of the flap until after the turr-over) (FIG. 4). This invisibly folds the tom packet and loose sweetener into side “B” and opens side “A” with the restored packet on top, The turned-over Equal will seem to have been in full view the entire time. A SS 50 STEP FOUR - As the switch is completed, your right fingers slide the visible packet for- ward on the bill and rub it around for a moment “to absorb the loose granules” then hand the sealed sweetener to your astonished table mate. CLEAN UP #1 - If seated: Tip your left hand back and let the white stuf fall out of the bill into your lap as the restored packet is handed out. Then snap the bill open and toss it on the table, Stand over a cup of coffee before you leave. CLEAN UP #2 - If standing: Hand out the restored packet and put the bill with its whole mess directly into your left pants pocket..then hose yourself off in the bathroom. TUE .NO CLEAN-UP CLEAN-UP #3 ~ You can side-step the mess by altering the effect. Draw a tangled line onto the sugar packet then use the ‘magnetic strip in the bill" to rearrange the ink into your friend's name. NOTE ON OTHER, PACLETS - Other sugar packets won't quite fit the gimmick. So you have to fold down the edge of the secret sugar packet so it's fully hidden. The visible torn packet must be folded similarly before the switch. Equal is easier PROFESSIONAL PRESENTATION ~ “Want to see something really neat? Watch this.Paul Haris The Art of Astor le Ae P.LU/MEAD EFFECT - A dime is placed on top of a clear plastic box of Tic Tac breath mints. You press down on the coin causing it to visibly drop through the plastic and into the box with the mints, Tic Tacs are then handed out to any- ‘one who needs one. TICKLING THE TAC - You need a standard box of Tic Tac mints. Take 7 or 8 mints out of the box. Eat them, (This loosens the remaining Ties) Drop a dime inside the box then hold the box flat so you can see it’s Tic Tac covered underside (FIG. 1). Shake the box until the dime lies flat against the underside. (If the Tics aren't cooperating dump them all out, slide the dime into position, then pour the mints back into the box. If you must resort to this you have my permission to feel embarrassed.) Carefully stand the box upright and tap it down a cou ple of times to lock everything in place. As ong as you leave it upright the dime will stay in position. 51 @ STEP ONE - Bring out the Tic Tacs with the concealed dime toward you. Carefully shake out a mint and pop it in your mouth and offer one to your magic buddy, STEP TWO - Lay the box down on your left fingers with the dime facing up. Keep this hidden with your thumb for now. The top of the box is away from you. You want to be care- ful that you don’t jar the Tic Tacs and move the dime out of postion STEP TREE - Reach into your pocket with your right hand and remove some change. Show the change in your hand as you openly separate a dime from the rest with your thumb and fingers STEP FOUR - Pretend to pick up the dime with your right thumb and forefinger by gliding your thumb over the top of the dime, secretly leaving the dime behind with the rest of the change which stays in your curled right fingers.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Pretend to press the dime down onto the box (FIG. 2) where your left thumb moves away to expose the boxed dime . When you do this non-move in a casual manner your aboutto-be astonished friend will have no choice but to assume that the dime is resting on the outside of the box. Put the change back into your pocket STEP FIVE - Openly press the tip of your right index finger onto the boxed dime, but leave a good chunk of the dime exposed. Rock the box back and forth with your right index finger while keeping your left hand still, Two or three rocking motions will cause the Tic Tacs to shift a little and spread out, taking pressure off the dime pressed up against the plastic..where the dime will seem to visibly melt through the plastic and drop onto the mints inside (FIG. 3A, 3B), Freeze your pose. This is the moment 82 STEP SKK - Quietly swallow your Tic Tac if you haven't done so already. PUooTNoTe. - We used to do this with a paddle move to show both sides of the “dime- less" box, and some under-the-box coin moves and turn-overs to switch the loose dime for the boxed dime, We gradually simplified the han- dling to the point where all you really have to do is suck on a Tic Tac. The setup is so inno- cent that people accept everything as is. + The real star of this show is Eric's idea of the shifting mints which create the visible drop of the dimePaul Haris The Art of Astonishment EFFECT - The Astonishment Guide plucks a single leaf from a living plant, The leaf is marked on one side with the initials of a wit ness. This marked leat is slowly and doliberate- ly restored onto the plant—where it remains as a living tribute to sustained astonishment WHEN No ONE'S LOOKING - Find a suit able leafy plant. Choose prominent leaf that’s nearer the end of a branch and of a size that could be easily palmed. (Despite its misleading name, a palm tree will not work) Mark a spec- {ators initials on the underside. Remember what the initials look like so you can duplicate them later. Its also critical that you know which leaf you marked without checking STEP ONE. - When the time is right, ask your hastess’ permission to pluck one leaf from her plant in order to show something wonder- ful Pull off a leaf that closely resembles the one you marked. Don't pull the marked one STEP TWO - Take out the marker and write the identical initials on the underside of the plucked leaf. Don't make a thing out of it just say to the spectator “Let's mark my ini tials..better yet, let's put your initials on the leaf.” Just do it. then hand her the leaf to look at. I's important she handles the leaf while it's separate. 53 LEAF PL/MEAD STEP THREE - As the astonishee is briefly occupied with the loose leaf, secretly clip the attached marked leaf between your left index and middle finger as in FIG. 1. Now bend the whole branch up and back gently, so the Underside of the leaves are in view (FIG. 2} The marked leaf is completely hidden behind ‘your left fingers. This “leaf clip” is easily done Under cover of grabbing the branchPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP FOUR. - Take the loose leaf back with your right hand, and place it onto the left fin- gers (FIGS. 3,4). Notice that if you completely released the hidden leaf it would come to rest in the same position as the visible leaf. There car't be a visible change in position when you do the switch, STEP FIVE - Gently stroke the visible leat with your right fingers (FIG. 5) When the leaf is completely hidden from view. clip it with your right thumb and steal it away (FIG. 6) as you allow the hidden leaf to spring out from between your left fingers. The stroking action should never pause, and there is no visible change of any kind. From the aud ence’s point of view, you are simply stroking the marked leaf. (What we are trying to say, is that with a little practice and experimentation. this is a perfect siow-motion switch.) STEP 51K - Rub the leaf gentiy with your left thumb, Then tug on it a litle, At first, peo- ple will think you are faking this somehow, and that’s good. Let them. Rub a bit more. tug again, then hesitartly release the leaf, (Don't let the branch go yet.) STEP SEVEN - Have someone else gently touch the healed leaf. “Be careful. Il be fragile for a few minutes... Then let go of the branch allowing it to waft back into it's natural posi tion. Pick up the marker with your right hand ‘and pocket it along with the extra vegetation. STEP LIGHT - Be silent. Give your aston ishee space to experience the moment PUootNoTe - You can mark the leaf with a prediction as in “Tom Mentalist” (see Index) ~ or go for a more organic mark by previously creating a small “natural” hole in both teaves. Point out the “completely solid leat” ~ and hope your spectator notices the hole. If not, casually notice it yourseltCLOSE-UP FANTASIES FINALE (1981) Originally published by Chuck MartinezPaul Havris The Art of Astonishment 56Paul Harris The Art of THE BIZARRE VANISH PLooTNoTe. - when | first published this | become so engrossed in writing a bizarre lead-in that | forgot to point out the absolute whitelight astonishment of this effect. A spec tator holds a card firmly in her fingers..then sees and feels it vanish! Its a silver bullet that | hold in reserve for those lost souls who have trouble accessing the moment | created the effect that follows based on something | published awhile back known as ‘The Bizarre Twist.” Cannibalizing one’s own material may seem a bit bizarre in itself, But this year’s annual "Win a Date with PH. Buttalo Bake-off" to see who could cook up the most, outrageous closeup fantasy was won hands down by semiprofessional bizarre person Mel Stover. Mel's award-winning performance of close- up tackiness took place at a small country- western bar in Calgary. Mel bet that he could open a bottle of beer with his teeth. Mel pro ceeded to win the wager by suavely removing his teeth and uncapping the beer with a bottle opener which he had previously imbedded in his upper plate. Mel promises that for next year’s entry he plans to stuff his entire face inside the beer bottle, Progressive Publisher and Part-Time Buffalo Baker Chuck Martinez has already pur chased exclusive rights to manufacture the offi- cial “Mel Stover Folding Face Gimmick EFFECT ~ A playing card visibly disappears while held in a spectator's hand. STEP ONE - Arrange the deck so that three cards of some significance are on top. Let's say that you have an Ace sandwiched between two Jacks . Openly turn these three cards face up on top of the pack. Hold the pack from above by its ends with your right fin gers and allow the lower half of the deck to drop to the table. The unspoken logic for dre ping the lower half is that you need only the top three cards - so you've made a halfhearted attempt to separate them from the deck 87Paul Havre The Art of Ast You're now set to Biddle-steal the Ace as you count the three cards off the packet and into your left hand: Press your left thumb onto the face of the top card and slide it diagonally off the packet across the upper left comer and onto the left palm (FIG. 1). Repeat the same action with the Ace, but obtain a left littlefinger break below the Ace as it's slid onto the face of the leftthand pack. As the third card (the second Jack) is slid onto the lefthand cards, the Ace above the break is stolen at the bottom of the right-hand packet with your right fingers (FIG. 2) The righthand packet should be positioned near the tabled packet (FIG. 3) so the right hand can place its packet onto the tabled one as a natural follow-through of the steal The audience should now believe you to have three face-up cards in your left hand STEP TWO - Adjust the two-card packet so that it's held face down from below by its ends between your left thumb and fingers. Lit the top card up slightly at its inner side with your right fingers (FIG. 4)Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Reach into the gap with your right thumb and forefinger and pretend to remove the cen- ter Ace. Since there is no center Ace, remove the bottom card instead (FIG. 5). ‘The inserted card is held in position by the tip of the left forefinger. STEP FOUR - Hold the phony sandwich with both hands. Direct a spectator to hold the “center Ace” between her thumb and forefinger (FIG, 9), then make the following statement STEP THREE - Turn the end of the right: “I'm going to take the top card away with my hand card toward the inner side of the left- right hand and the bottom card away with my hand card. Allow the tip of your left forefinger You get to keep the Ace. to lightly press up against the face of the left hand card (FIG. 6) Pretend to place the right-hand card cross wise between the “two cards” in the left hand ala “Bizarre Twist” (Figs 7. 8) 59Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment {As you finish your statement, sharply turn Your right hand takes the top card, your left both hands palm down (Figs. 10.11) hand takes the bottom, The turnover should leave the two cards in line with one another. The sharply-down sideways turn of the left- hand card cleanly snaps it out of the specta- tor's grasp — causing the Ace to instantly van- ish out of the spectator’s hand. Drop your two face-up Jacks onto her hand and allow your bewildered spectator a moment of silence. Gently draw your spectator out of her shocked condition and slowly spread the deck to reveal the vanished Ace. PUlo Notes - | often end with the vanish without repro ducing the Ace. The vanish leaves them out there in a timoless never-never land. The reveal brings them back to earth, It ali depends upon what kind of experience you want to orches- trate. * | usually do “Bizarre Twist” (see Index) and “Bizarre Vanish’ together. Here's how to get into it, along with another way to unload the card for the vanish: De the face-up twist just once then go right into the color change. Toss the odd card aside {as your right fingers hold the remaining two face-down cards from above by their ends. with a thumb break at the back to keep the ‘two cards separated. Your left hand picks up the facedown deck in dealing position and thumbs its top card to the right. Use the left ‘edge of your two right-hand cards to lever the top card of the deck face up onto the deck ‘We'll use the Three of Hearts for a change of pace.” As you use the two cards to flip the face-up card face down onto the deck, your righthand cards follow the levered-over card down onto the deck... and secretly release the card below the break so it's on top of the deck. (I's important to follow the turned card down and not just let the right-hand card drop through the air) 60Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment You're right thumb slides the facedown * For the aggressively unconvincab Three of Hearts,” between your right first and p Two you can add the audible “Snap second fingers. Table the deck then insert the Count” convincer from “Illusion” (see Index). single between the “pair” to get into "Bizarre Vanish’ position, 61Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment 62Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment CLOSE @CUARTERS once asked Daryl the secret of his phenome- nal success. The master closeup artist crypti- cally replied: “Time fies lke an arrow, but fruit flies ke @ banana.” With this basic philosophy of life as a guide, Daryl has managed to fly around the world with nothing more than a pack of cards and a change of underwear. This rational pilgrimage recently won Daryl the Magic Castle's Close-up Magician of the Year Award and a pair of gold-plated briefs from Fruit of the Loom. Dary's “Close Quarters” effect is one of those embarrassingly direct “why didn’t I think of that?" presentations that will be hungrly devoured by professional table workers and dis cerning Fruit Flies everywhere CFFE.CT - Two quarters held in the per former's hand are transformed into a single halfdollar. Daryl makes this a big effect by sell ing the details, if you want your audience to know that you're doing something wonderful you've got to tell then about it first! PREPARATION - Place one quarter and one half-dollar in a convenient right-hand pocket DARYL STEP ONE. - In your very best Puerto Rican gambler style, sashay over to a “magician-by- request-only” table while suavely causing the two coins to tinkle in your pocket. Perhaps one time in ten an astute spectator will remark, “My goodness, it sounds to me as though you have two quarters tinkling in your pocket.” This, of course, is the perfect introduction to the rou- tine. Most times, however, you'll just have to make this observation about the quarters your- self STEP TWO - Remove the “frst” quarter from your pocket with your right fingers and flip it into the air and pretend to place it into your left hand. An added convincer here is to say, “I will place this first quarter into my left hand. STEP THREE - As you reach into your pocket for the “second” quarter, drop the palmed quarter, palm the halfdollar and pick up the first quarter that was originally palmed. This is especially nice when set to music. 63Paul Haris The Art STEP FOUR - Display the second quarter ‘on your right fingertips, flip it into the air, and pretend to place it into your left hand with the first quarter, while actually allowing the con cealed half to drop from the palm. clink off of the finger-palmed coin and into the left hand, The clink pass sequence is overillustrated in FIG. 1 STEP FIVE. - At this point your audience should believe that you have two quarters in your closed left hand. If you hear someone say that you have a halt-dollar in your closed left hand and the quarter finger-palmed in your right hand, then i's time to move on to a less critical audience, 64 Dump the palmed quarter into your pocket as you remove either a pinch of fairy dust or an invisible hair ball, Sprinkle your dust, bounce the ball, then open your hand. The two quarters have transformed into a single halt-dollar! TUE PLL PRESENTATION - Hire your mom to weld two quarters together for you. Use this molten mess in place of the half-do lar. When you go to your pocket to dump the second quarter, come out with a cigarette lighter. Direct a spectator to hold your wrist. and wave the flaming lighter near your closed hand. Announce that you are magically weld- ing the two quarters into a half-dollar. Comment that the hot flame from the lighter combined with the burning passion of the spectator may be too much heat for the litle quarters to bear. Open your hand and reveal the magical meltdown,Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment HEARTBURN his was inspired by a Ripley's “Believe-t-or- Not” story about a man in prison who was forced to take up bar magic as a hobby. After 2 few years of this meaningless existence, the prisoner decided to commit suicide in a practi calyet-entertaining fashion. His background in chemistry had taught him that the red ink on playing cards contained phosphorus and other explosive elements. The ingenious prisoner used this little known fact to construct a home- made bomb out of scraped-off card ink, cotton mattress padding, and a piece of pipe. Then somehow, believe it or not, he managed to blow his brains out The performer illustrates this tall tale by tak ing a real playing card, rubbing its index corner to warm up the ink, then strikes it on a match- book. The friction combined with the heated ink causes the red pips to ignite ~ and the card to burst into flame. Believe it or not STEP ONE. - While skillfully misdirecting your audience's attention elsewhere. secretly snsert a paper match under the non-sandpaper flap of a closed matchbook (FIG. 1) (Note that the non-business end of the match is under the flap.) Put the prepared matchbook sandpaperside up and toward the in an outof-theway place on the STEP TWO - Go through your explosive build-up as described in the first paragraph. When you've got your audience sufficiently primed, pick the card up in your right hand and the matchbook in your left The book is held between your thumb on top and second finger below. Press your sec- ond finger onto the concealed match head and pull it back slightly, disengaging the match from the flap (FIG. 2) 65Paul Haris STEP THREE - As you strike the card across the sandpaper in an attempt to ignite the card, steal the match with your right sex ond finger and slide it beneath the card (FIG. 3) Immediately follow up with a second dud strike, STEP FOUR - Table the matchbook and then use your left second finger to adjust the concealed match so that its head is flush with the card's upper left corner (FIG. 4) This adjustment is done undercover of removing moisture” from the card by snapping its comer with your left thumb. Art of Astonishment STEP FIVE. - Pick the matchbook up with your left hand and light the card (FIG. 5), A second after the match flames, slide the match back away from the comer (FIG. 6) ‘The corer will remain lit for a few seconds even though the match has gone out STEP SIX - Wet your left second finger and pinch the burnt corner, at the same time cool- ing off the hot match head. Dump the match to the floor as you toss the burnt card out for examination, PUootNoTe. Eric uses the flaming card to casually light, someone's cigarette. This is a fine idea,Paul Haris The Art of A MICKEY MOUSE MATH CFFECT - The performer proposes to locate a selected card using a goofy new principle known as "Mickey Mouse Math.” A Nine at the pack's face is “mathemagically” split down into a Two and a Seven. The Two is subtracted from the Seven, leaving a Five spot on the deck. The Five is divided into a one (Ace) and a Four. The One is then visibly subtracted leav- ing just a single Three spot -the original select- ed card! STEP ONE. - With the face of the deck towards you, upog the following cards under cover of programming the deck for a computer card trick. The cards may be of mixed suits. From face to back: 3, 9. 7-2 (or 2-7), 5, 4-4 {or A-4), (Note that the order of the 2-7 and 4- ‘A may be reversed. This gives you a better chance of getting the entire setup in one run through) Once in a while you'll un out of cards before your setup is complete. When this happens strip out the cards you've already up- jogged and place them, still upogged. onto the pack’s face. From this position spread through the pack and upjog the cards you missed the first time. In either case, stip out ail of the upjogged cards and place them square onto the pack's face. A Three should now be showing in front STEP TWO - Hold the facedown pack from above by its ends with your right fingers Use your right forefinger to swivel the top halt cof the pack into your left hand (FIG. 1). 67Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Place your righthand cards onto the left- hand cards, maintaining a left lttleinger break between the two halves. Riffle down the deck’s upper left comer with your left thumb until a concerned spectator tells you to stop. If you really know your stuff you'll have timed the rif. fle to stop at the break. Most of the time, how- ever, you'll miss. All you have to do now is cut to the break as your right fingers lift off the upper half. Execute this with proper panache and your audience will politely swear that you did indeed cut to where they stopped. (After doing this for a couple of years you'll find that no one really cares where you cut the cards But it's nice to know you're doing the right thing.) Press your left fingertips against the face card (a Three) of the right-hand packet. Slide this card onto the right side of the left-hand packet (FIG. 2) and tilt your left hand up to dis- play the forced Three. Pull the card square onto its packet with your left thumb, then replace the righthand packet onto the left-hand packet. retaining a break between them with your left litte finger. Say ‘three times three” as you triple-undercut to the break (cut three separate bunches of cards from the bottom ~ cutting to the break for the third batch). This controls the Three to the top. Table the deck face up in a horizontal position to reveal 3X3=9. STEP THREE - A Nine should be visible at the deck’s face. Grasp the ends of the d with the fingers of both hands in preparation for a slip-cut (FIG. 3), Note that the right fore- finger is pressed against the Nine, ‘To convert the Nine into a Seven and a Two, the right fingers remain stationary as the left fingers cut the upper-half of the deck (beneath the Nine} toward yourself (FIG. 4}, The leftthand half is placed square onto the tabled half to reveal 2 Seven at the pack’s face. Slip-cut the deck again - but this time leave the two halves separate to show a Seven and a Two (FIG. 5). Retain your grip on the cards. 68Paul Harris The Art of Astonist STEP FOUR - Place the left-hand cards square onto the right-hand cards and magically subtract the Two from the Seven by performing another complete slip-cut, placing the cutoff left-hand packet onto the tabled cards revealing a Five, Transform the Five into an Ace and a Four by performing another complete slip-cut (lefthand packet onto tabled cards), and then a final slip-cut leaving half of the deck in each hand’ STEP FIVE - Use both forefingers to slide the Ace and Four onto the table (FIG. 6). Pull the two packets taward yourself to dis- engage them from the pushed-off cards, then place the right-hand packet beneath the left hand packet. As your left fingers square the face-up deck (naw held from above by its sides), obtain a left litefinger break above the back card of the deck (a Three} STEP SK - Using the thumb and forefin- gers of both hands, pick up the tabled cards. from their sides (FIG. 7) 69 The left-hand card is pulled square onto the deck ~ leaving you with two cards above the break, As the Ace is placed onto the Four, your right fingers go into the break and hold the three cards as two (FIG. 8) To subtract the Ace from the Four, keep your right hand stil as the right fingers flip the deck face up onto the "two" face-up cards. As soon as the deck lands, flip all of the cards over back into the left hand — leaving the single selected Three face up on top of the face- down deck (Fig. 9) Finish by dealing the Three off onto the table PLoTNoTE. - Once each slip-cut sequence is started, the cuts should be execut- ed fairly quickly. Pause for a moment atter the completion of each subtraction phase. A brisk pace is very important to the routine’s overall impactPaul Hanis The Art of Ast TORN AND 2. CFFECT - (See title. PREPARATION - Cut an empty card case in half (FIG. 1). Glue the case flap so it is permanently sealed. Obtain four Jokers and cut two of them in half, Also cut one indifferent card in hall You'll now have four pieces of Joker, two pieces of an indifferent card, and two complete Jokers. Glue one indifferent card piece face up onto the back end of each of the two Jokers. Glue two Joker pieces face up overlapping the indifferent piece on each of the complete Jokers (FIG. 2). ESTORED DEcK When the prepared Jokers are turned face up, the glued pieces should be out of sight SETUP - Place the entire deck face up into the lower half of the case. Position one of the prepared Jokers (so the gaffed side is up) onto the face of the cased deck. Note that the rough edge of the end piece is inside of the case (FIG. 3). Place the other gaffed Joker (pieces-side up) into the deck’s center with the rough end- piece outside of the case (Fig 4}, nPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment Position the other half of the case on top of ‘The cut Jokers should be at the face of above it (FIG. 5). are pulled away from each other to a shoul- “| The encased deck will stay secure in your pocket or case until you're ready to present the effect. When practicing this routine strive for a casual, nonchalant handling of the “torn” deck STEP ONC. - Bring out the deck with your right hand, holding it from above by the sides The torn deck and torn case are displayed. Grasp the flap side of the case with your left fingers and separate the two sections (FIG. 6). Slide the cards out into two halt-spreads using your forefingers (FIG. 8) (tt will take a little practice to smoothly cre- ate that torn-deck look ~ but if it was easy then everyone would be doing it.) The hal-spreads, should be angled toward the audience. This makes the spread look thinner from the audi- ence'’s side. Insert one half of the case into the other half, at right angles, making a neat par- cel. Then put it away in a pock 72Paul Haris The Are of Astonishment STEP TWO - Use both hands to loosely From this position use both hands to snap mush the two spreads together (FIG. 9) the two Joker cards over (FIG. 12) Pry up the right Joker with your right thumb so it overlaps the other Joker (FIG. 10). This snap-over change restores the “four pieces” of Joker into two complete cards — as the rest of the torn deck restores itself! Spread out the restored deck with your right hand as your left hand pockets the two Jokers (FIG. 13}, This enables the cards to be pushed togeth: er — while keeping the Jokers on top. Note that the hands cover both ends of the deck The righthand Joker is tilted up to enhance the torn-deck illusion (FIG. 11). PLZoTNOTE - The method was inspired by Brother John Hamman’s outstanding growe ing deck effect, “MicroMacto. 73Paul Haris The Art of Astonishme 74Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment he close-up fantasy-maker boasts that he has trained an ardinary deck of cards to koop perfect time, Three face-up cards are pro: duced from the shuffled deck: a Six, a Four, and a Three. “At the sound of my voice.” the performer announces, “the correct time will be 6:43." A nofun spectator insists that the cor rect time is actually 2:58. The chastised clock watcher keeps his cool, “6:43 is the correct. time... in Venezuela. For local time | have to cross the time line. The performer waves his hands over the Six, Four and Three. The three cards visibly change into a Two, a Five and an Eight ~ instantly arriving at the perfect “shuttle time” of 2:58 \WARNING - For maximum impact this rou tine should not be performed on the hour or between the hours of eleven, twelve or one, as itis very difficult to find the corresponding time cards in an average deck STEP ONE - Sneak a peck at your watch (better yet. don’t wear a watch and peek at someone else's), add one minute and quietly cull the corresponding cards to the top of the deck. If the time is 5:42, for example, then you would need a Five, a Four, and a Three of any suit. The final time change is a little more showy when the three cards match in suit 75 SUUFFLE TIME. ur ML Wil The order of the three cards from the top down should be Five, Three, Four (the order of the second and third time cards is always transposed). The fourth card from the top should be spot card of contrasting value to the other three, Serious card guys will shun this initial setup as inelegant and will instead glimpse the top three cards of the shuffled deck - then stall until the appropriate time. STEP TWO - Give the deck a few shuffles and cuts without disturbing your top stack, then hold the deck face down in your left hand. Obtain a left littlefinger break beneath the fourth card as the deck is squared. Grasp the deck from above with your right fingers, transfering the break to your right thumb. Cut off the lower two-thirds of the pack onto your left-hand, then your left thumb slides the top two cards of the deck (one at a time) onto the left-hand packet. Place the two sections of the deck together and retain a left little finger break between them As the packets are placed together, your right fingers turn the two cards above the thumb-break face up onto the deck as one. Remove the packet above the finger-break and place it on the table with the face-up double (on top. As this packet is tabled, obtain a left lit- tlesinger break below the top card of the left: nd packetPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment Grasp the left-hand packet from above with ‘The left hand passes over the right. As the ‘your right fingers, transfering the break to your two packets cross, curl your forefingers under right thumb. Revolve the lawer half of the their packets and lever the packet over. The packet with your left fingers face up onto the Tight packet is turned toward the left. the left one-card break, Cut to the break with your right packet toward the right (FIGS. 2, 3, 4), fingers. As you table this packet to the right of the first packet, obtain a left lttlefinger break below the top card of the packet in your left hand. Execute a Braue Reversal with these cards by grasping them from above with your right fingers, transferring the break to your right thumb. Revolve the lower half of the packet face up onto the top card. Cut off the rest of the cards from below the break with your left hand and place them face up onto the right- hand packet. Table these cards to the left of the other two packets. At this point your audience won't know or care whether the three face-up cards are on top of the face-up or face-down packets. This touch of mystery sets you up for the big change at the end STEP THREE - The current condition of the tabled packets should be as follows: Right packet face up with reversed Three at back. center packet face down with face-up double on top (the top card conceals the Four), left packet is face up with a reversed Five con- cealed at its back, If either of the two end packets show a face card, openly remove it and toss it aside. Read off the time showing on the cards from right to left, then comment that your digital deck is never wrong. When a spectator points out that the time illustrated by the cards is incorrect, apologize and explain that the deck is set for Venezuelan time. Ask for the correct time, then comment that its a simple matter to reset the time Pick up the center packet and place it onto your left hand. Turn the double card on top face down as one, then deal the top card face down onto the table between the other two packets. Table the face-down lefthand packet behind the card just dealt. Pick up one of the end packets in each hand (FIG. 1) in prepara: tion for an open exchange of the position of the two packets by crossing your hands. 76Paul Harris The Art of As The packets will end up clipped between your first and second fingers. As the hands cross, the packets are secretly flipped over and then tabled ~ all in one fluid action, The larger movement of the hands crossing covers the smaller action of the packets being turned, resulting in an instant change of the two cards ‘on top of the packets. Release the packets, uncross your hands, and turn the face-down card in the center face up. This crossing and 7 onishment Uncrossing sequence takes but a second to perform and results in what appears to be a visible change of the three “wrong” cards into the correct time “6:43” from the spectator's side of the table. Pick the two top cards off of the end pack ets and scoop up the center card between them. Place the three cards face dawn onto the inside packet and assemble the deck.Poul Haris The Art of Astonishiment 78Strange Exchange STRANGE EXCHANGE Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment [FFECT - A card and a coin change places in a most startling fashion. STEP ONE. - Start off with an extra half-dot lar finger-palmed in your hand. You can easily get into this position by first performing your favorite four-coin routing. At the conclusion of the routine, openly leave one coin an the table. As the remaining three coins are put away, fin- gerpalm the extra coin in your right hand. With the deck held face down in your left hand, thumb the top card off onto your left fin- gers, covering the coin (FIG. 1). ‘Scoop the tabled coin onto the back of the card (FIG, 2), 79 As you turn the card face up, retain this c with your thumb while the previously con- cealed coin at the face is allowed to drop onto the table (FIG. 3), Place the face-up card square onto the facedown deck. As the card is, positioned, press down with your right forefin- ger and pull away your right thumb (FIG. 4), The left thumb is pressed onto the card directly over the coin.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment STEP TWO - Remove the deck from your left hand by grasping it from above by its ends with your right fingers (FIG. 5). Your right fin- gers should be positioned to do a one-handed top palm, Note that the right little finger is pressed onto the upper right comer of the pack. Pick up the tabled coin with your left hand, position it at the base of your second and third fingers, then close your fingers over the coin, The left fist should be fingertips up. thumb side toward the audience (FIG. 6). In a continuing action, tilt the deck, causing the coin to fall to the table. STEP FOUR - Load the palmed card into your left fist, then immediately remove that same card from the fist, and place it over the coin onto the left palm by following (Figs. 10 through 18), These actions are performed in. ‘one smooth sequence at the moment the coin from the deck hits the table. STEP THREE - Direct attention to the face-up card on the deck, then perform a one- hand top palm. It will appear as if the card instantly transformed itself into a coin (Figs. 7, 8, 9) 80Paul Harris The To clean up at this point, simply place the card onto the deck and retain the concealed coin in a left finger palm. Pick up the tabled coin and place both into your pocket MACLIO-MAN ONE. COIN VERSION - Pretend to place the coin into your left hand. retaining it in the right. Load the palmed coin under the top card of the deck as the card is turned face up. Proceed as in the original. The tricky part about this version is positioning the top card over the coin - then getting into a one-handed top palm - without the aid of your left hand. But if you've got more hair on your chest than you know what to do with, give it a shot v CURAP-SUOT INVISIBLE VERSION - Get the halt-dollar loaded under the face-up top card and hold the deck in top palm position. Reach into your pocket with your left hand and bring out a handful of nothing. Display the invisible half, then hold it in your left fist, The coin becomes visible as it chang the card, The effectiveness of this version is totally dependent upon the twinkle in your eyes and the depth of your dimples. PulootNote. This is an astonishing thing to see in action, but you need a dead-on, ballsto-the-wall one- handed top palm, This palm is a valuable tool and is worth whatever effort it takes to acquire it. Experiment with tiny changes of fingering and hand position. ifthe levered-up card con- sistently extends past your hand try changing your hand position so its in the spot where the card wants to go. If you have trouble getting the card t0 lever up. try leaning all of your right fingers forward as you do the action to give you more leverage 81Paul Hairs The Art of AstonishmentPaul Harris The Art of Astonishment JUST CALL ME MR. WONDERFUL \W hen | first showed this flourish to Daniel Cros, resident magician and one-man escort service at the Las Vegas Desert Inn, he suggested that we celebrate the occasion by finding a couple of women and having a party.” (Daniel also celebrates the mowing of his front lawn and a successful trip to the 7-11 by “finding @ couple of women and having @ party.) Daniel decided that we should hang around the casino and just wait for something to hap pen. Daniel stood at the bar poised in his imported French “JustCallMe-Mr-Wonderful look, while | leaned my elbow into the olive tray — trying to look cool as | sipped my root beer on the rocks. After we had displayed our charms for a few moments, two shapely women with cameras approached the bar and stared up at Daniel The first woman, wearing @ revealing T-shirt which read “Magicians do it in a thumb tip, whispered to her friend, “My god, he’s so handsome!” Both ladies then quickly snapped Daniel's picture and walked off. It goes without saying that Daniel was upset. “How dare those women take my picture — and then have the nerve to walk away without paying me! But the evening wasn't a total loss. A visit: ing nun finally paid Daniel for a picture, a bar- tender paid me to take my elbow out of the olives, and a woman who wasn't a nun asked me for Daniel's phone number. | asked her if this was just a clever ploy to talk to me. She was speechless. | threw an olive into her mouth. It was the start of something wonder ful CFFECT - A super cool flourish which enables the close-up entertainer to open a card case, remove the deck, and then fan the cards out for an opening selection — with just one hand! STEP ONC - Hold the closed case, half- moon cutout towards yourself, by its sides between your right fingers and thumb (FIG. 1) 83Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment The facedown deck should now be pinched between your right thumb. first and second fin- gers (FIG. 6). Note that your right second fingertip rests on the case’s upper right corner. Press your fight forefinger through the hattmoon cutout and disengage the flap from the box (FIG. 2) STEP TWO - Slowly extend your right sec ‘ond finger to push the case away (FIG. 7) while at the same time pulling the deck toward your right hand with your right thumb and fore- finger (FIG. 8). Place your right first and second fingertip against the inside of the open flap (FIG. 3). Clip the right side of the flap between your second and third fingers (FIG. 4). then slide your right thumb over so that it presses against the deck through the halfmoon cutout (FIG. 5). If all goes well the deck should uncase itself, Jeaving the empty hanging card case clipped between your right second and third fingers (FIG. 9).Paul Harris The Are of Astonishment STEP THREE - Position your left hand Tuck the flap into the case with your right about eight inches behind the deck (FIG. 10, third and fourth fingers (FIG. 12) Then smoothly set the closed case onto the table. Have a card selected from the waiting fan and proceed to prove that you're not called Mr, Wonderful” for nothing Fan the cards with your right hand by pusk ing down with your thumb and pulling back with your fingers. The fan action will revolve the case directly into your waiting left hand (FIG. 11) 85Poul Haris 86Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment THE BILL COLLECTOR CFFECT - This is a little too weird to Cut off all of the cards above the bill by describe in detail, but basically a selected card ——_grasping the packet from above by its ends simultaneously penetrates a Hundred-dollar bill with your right fingers. Your left thumb keeps as it sort of rises out of the pack the bill in position on top of the left-hand pack Allan DeGeddes of Las Vegas will receive a et (FIG. 2) complimentary set of matching Tupperware card cases for being this routine’s inspirational source. PREPARATION - Erase the zeroes off your Hundred-dollar bill to discourage theft STEP ONG. - Hold the deck face down in lefthand dealing position. Direct a spectator to insert a bill into the deck as your left thumb rit fles down the corner. Use your right fingers to adjust the inserted bill so that itis centered in the deck (FIG. 1), Display the card at the face of the right hand packet. then return the packet to a face- down poston. STEP TWO - Secretly swivel the face card of the righthand packet to the right with your right second finger so the inner left comer of the selected card rests against the joint of the thumb (FIG. 3), 87Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Apparently remove the selected card from the right-hand packet's face between the first and second fingers of your left hand while actually taking the exposed card above it (FIG. 4) Ina continuing action the left-hand packet is placed directly under the righthand packet (FIG. 8). Drop the card face down onto the table. STEP THREE - Place the bill onto the front end of the righthand packet (FIG. 5), From this position the swiveled card at the face of the righthand packet and the folded bill are retained on top of the left-hand packet with the left fingers and thumb as the right hand packet is moved away to the right (FIG. The curled right forefinger keeps the bill in place, As your left hand moves under the right- hand packet, the left side of the bill brushes against the back of the left fingertips (FIG. 6), causing the bill to fold around the face of the right-hand packet (FIG. 7) 88Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Sandwich the folded bill between the deck Keep your right fingers on this card as you by placing the right-hand packet square onto direct a spectator to grasp one end of the bill the left-hand packet (FIG. 10) in each hand. Slowly push the card into the or pulls the bill apart (FIG. To the audience it should look as though you simply placed the folded bill into the deck = while in fact the folded bill now contains the selected card. STEP FOUR, - Adjust the bill so its two pro- truding ends are equal. Hold the deck by its ends between your left fingers and thumb, The d card will appear to mysterious- back of the deck is toward the audience. The ly penetrate the bill as it slowly rises from the loose ends of the bill are sticking out from the deck top. Insert the face-down tabled card halfway into the lower side of the deck (FIG. 11) 89Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment 90he test conditions of this signed card:to- wallet effect should be impossible to meet but that’s why we're here, There’s no palming, lapping. duplicates, stooges or gafts. A face-up signed card is pushed through the deck and openly transforms into another card. The wallet is immediately removed from your back pocket by a spectator. Your empty hands open the wallet to reveal the original signed card! PREPARATION - Place one card face down into your wallet ~ outside of the bill section (FIG. 1). Keep the wallet in your back pants pocket until you're ready for “Guts.” GUTS STEP ONE - Direct a spectator to sign her name across the face of a selected card. The signature must extend from one end of the card to the other. You can usually accomplish this by saying, “Sign your name really big so ‘we can all see it.” If one end of the card still remains unsigned, tell her to sign the card a few more times to insure that her signature’s not a forgery, Have the signed card returned to the pack and control it to the top. Hold the facedown deck firmly in your left hand. Place both hands behind your back and ‘announce that you'll locate the selected card by sense of touch STEP TWO - As soon as the deck is out of sight, push off the top card and tear it approx mately in half (FIG. 2). 1Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment The tear can be made with a minimum of noise by keeping the thumb and forefinger of both hands pressed together as the card is tom. Tear the card a little bit at a time. After each tear slide your thumb and forefinger down the card to muffle the sound of the next tear, Insert the righthand piece face down all of the way into the bill compartment of your pocketed wallet (FIG. 3) Note that this piece is positioned so that the rough edge goes into the wallet first. As your right fingers have been busy with the wallet, your left thumb has positioned the other face- down torn piece so that it extends beyond the front end of the deck (FIG. 4), Your right fingers now remove the exposed card from below the piece and place it square on top of the outjogged pie ‘As you perform these necessary actions pat- ter about the tremendous sensitivity required to “feel” a signature. STEP THREE - Bring out the deck in your left hand with its upjogged one-and-a-half card and tilt your left palm toward yourself to dis play the signed card as in FIG. 5. Tilt the deck back down and use your right fingers to cut off the lower half of the deck (trom the inner end). Place these cards on the top of the deck, leav- ing the cardand-ahalf outjogged in the center (FIG. 6). Grasp the end of the extended double between your right thumb, first and second fin gers. This grip insures that the cards remain squared. Swivel the double to the right so that it extends from the right side of the deck (FIG. 7) Grasp the lower corner of the deck between your right thumb, first and second fingers to allow your left fingers to re-grip the deck from. above by its ends (FIG. 8) 92Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Note that the left forefinger is curled down against the top of the pack. Turn your left hand palm up so the signed card is once again visi- ble, Hold the double by its ends between your right thumb and second finger (FIG. 9), STEP FOUR - Slowly push the signed card through the deck ~ causing it to cleanly trans: form itself into an indifferent card (Figs. 10.11) 93 Remove the indifferent card by grasping its end between your right thumb and forefinger = and pulling up on the card as itis removed (FIG. 12), This upward pull insures that the half piece stays concealed inside the deck. Place this card on the face of the pack. Pick up the deck from above by its sides with your right fingers and make a wideend spread of the deck onto the table (FIG. 13), The half-card will remain out of sight. Sell the signed card vanish by poking through all the cards (FIG. 14), proving that the signed card is really gone STEP FIVE ~ Scoop up the spread and table the deck face down. The concealed half card should be at the inner end of the deck. Make a big display out of showing your hands empty, then bring out the wallet with your right hand or allow an accomodating spectator to pick your pocket and hand you the wallet. Open the wallet to reveal the complete face- down card.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Grip the outer end of this card, and the con- cealed half card, between your right thumb and fingers (FIG. 1) As the wallet is closed with your left hand, your right fingers pull the half-card part of the way out of the wallet (FIG. 16). Suddenly remember that you forgot to show the face of the signed card and tilt the wallet up for the big bluff display (FIG. 17) 94 Push the signed card back into the wallet, pocket the deck and leave the building, PUootNote - This was inspired from seeing Frank Garcia do the signedcardtowallet at a trade show. He always revealed the card by pulling it half Way out of the wallet. just enough to show part of the signature. He never showed the rest of the card, The audience always gasped and applauded and seemed quite content. So | felt ur species should be rewarded for taking such a creative perceptual shortcut * Or then again - you could just palm the signed card off the deck and load it into your wallet - but where's the sport in that? * For another impossible signed-card-to pocket that requires almost no guts try Backlash.” (See Index)Paul Hanis The Art of Astonishment CLOSE-UP KINDA GUY (1983) Originally published by Tannen’s Magic ManuscriptPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment 96Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment WHAT THE HECK ISA CLOSE-UP KINDA GUY ANY VAY 5S? O° the one hand you've got your basic skilled Close-up Artist, well-versed in bold bluffs, cheap-shots, and other pseudo strategies of deception. While on the other hand (the clean one) you've got your basic fun kinda guy, genetically compelled to provoke verbal warmies. mental feelies, and other impromptu acts of social inti- macy. It's a tough job bringing these two hands together, but when carefully combined you just might end up with the ten tap-dancing fingers and thumbs of a Close-up kinda guy. That's right; a special kinda guy who creates awesome entertainment whenever he stands up, sits down, or leaves the room, The unique nature of Close-up creates an instant bond of intimacy between the performer and his audience. It's up to the individual whether this bond of intimacy is used for the forces of darkness and evil: mentally beating up spectators with “Ha, | fooled you type presentations, or whether this special bond of intimacy is recruited for the forces of goodness and wonder- fulness: a magical tool to secretly stuff a little sunshine into the unlighted corners of your spec- tator’s soul-provoking verbal warmies, mental feelies, and generally making people happy and glad for the chance to bask in the shadow of @ genuine Close-up kinda guy. BIO OF A Pi BALANCED KINDA GUY Paul's favorite color is Bicycle-deck blue, His favorite drink is rootbeer (AGW in a frosted mug) his favorite women are those who can pronounce the word “jello He does not like: Cutting to a natural break, balloon doggies, and women who cannot pro- nounce the word “jello.” Paul currently lives in Las Vegas, Los Angeles and New York, can do almost two hundred sit-ups in a row, is working on a variety of questionable theatrical ventures, and has no idea how to explain to his grandmom what he does for a living. 7Paul Harts The Art of Astonish 98Paul Harris The Art of Ai IMPR.OVISED SCREWED DECK (REVISED) “| fe shakes hands with the men, exchanges keys with the women, and bounces small children upon his knee in an amusing thee bell juggling pattern, The Close-Up Kinda Guy then picks up his deck, holds it between both hands, then in the same fashion that a pool shark unserews his custom-made cue, he slowly unscrews his deck. He eases the two sections into their velvetined case, quietly clos- €s the lid and then, almost without moving his feet, he smoothly glides out of the room in search of his next close-up encounter.” IMPROVISED SCREWED DECK + Revised version from Stan Allen's “Magic magazine as described by Richard Kaufman. Paul Harris displays a face-down deck of cards and spreads it around to “soften the deck.” Then, he grasps both ends very tightly and gives them a sharp twist—the deck ‘appears to have been “screwed”: Half of EACH CARD is face up while the other halt is face down! Sort of like “Card Warp” with 62 cards and no covering card. The deck is now spread to display all the cards in this screwed-up con- dition, The sharp twist is repeated to restore the deck to its original unscrewed position 99 Paul Harris recently gave a very successful lecture in New York City, and privately demon- strated the following routine to a few friends who suggested that he print it quickly before someone else did, And so we benefit from this unfortunate state of affairs. This is extremely deceptive and, as are all of Paul's best tricks way out there. His original “Screwed Deck’, that switched in a mechanical deck that screwed together like a pool cue, appeared in Close-Up Kinda Guy (Harris, 1983). He later marketed a mechanical version that got rid of the deck switch. This handling is unique because it does not require any gaffed deck or cards, and can be improvised within a few sec onds for an impromptu performance with & borrowed deck. Two cards will be sacrificed to make a one- time “appliance” which allows you to accom- plish this trick. This is an improvised, rather than impromptu, miracle (though once you make this thing, which takes five seconds, you can use it over and over), Take advantage of a lull in your performan and turn your back for a few seconds. (Alternatively, place both hands, holding the deck, under the table for 2 moment.) While the deck is held face down, reverse the lower third of the deck, turning it face up. Next. spread off the top two face-down cards. It is vital that the double card be perfectly aligned during the fol lowingPaul Harris The 4 Using the thumbs and first fingers of both hands, make a tear in the double card that runs from the right long side to the center (FIG. 1), This is the same tear you would make if doing “Card Warp.” though here it is made {identically) in two cards at the same time. The fact that your left hand is holding the deck while you tear the double card doesn’t really Cause a problem if your fingers are short, sit ply push the deck inward a bit with your left first finger beforehand. This will give your fin- gers the important flexibility they must have, Once the two cards are torn, turn the lower card face up sideways and hold it in your right hand so that the tear runs from the center 10 the LEFT long side (FIG. 2). tof Astonishment ‘The two tears now face one another. Slide the cards together, interlocking them at the tears, 60 that the outer end of the double card is face up and the inner end is face down (FIG. 3). Because the cards have been torn while perfectly aligned, they also will square exactly once interlocked. You have, in a few Seconds, created an improvised double-ended card which is half face up and half face down on both sides. Place this double-ended double card on the bottom of the deck so that, if you peek under neath, the outer end of the double-ended card will be face up and the inner end face down, {in other words, the outer end should be facing the same way as the rest of the deck, while the inner end is reversed.) Begin with the deck in left-hand dealing position. Spread the face-down cards between sour hands to show as many backs as possible ‘na casual gesture while pattering, Be careful not to expose the face-up third near the bot tom. Break the spread at center and turn both hands palm down, The left fingers will conceal the face-down inner end of the bottom card, ‘and only the face-up outer end will show (FIG. 4). Turn the hands palm up again. bring the halves of the deck together as before. and ‘square the cards. (The double-ended card is still on the bottom.) 100Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Say, “This amazing feat requires that | soften the cards beforehand.” Using your right finger- tips, smear the upper portion of the deck inward (the cards are injogged in a spread) for a few inches. The outer ends of a number of backs are seen, Then, using your right thumb, push those cards square, and continue the fand’s Ouoward movement so ine C&IGs ae now spread in the opposite direction, toward the audience. This exposes a number of backs at the inner end. This sequence is actually a feint which sets up a fake show later on. (If the actual manner of spreading is not clear, refer to FIGS. 8, 9, though here all of the cards are face down) Your right hand turns palm down and grasps the inner end of the deck as if for a Hindu or Faro Shuffle, thumb and fingers at opposite sides, but far more deeply in the hand than normal (FIG. 5). Once the right hand has a tight grip, the left hand lets go, turns palm down, and assumes an identical position, tight ly grasping the left end of the deck (FIG. 6} The grip looks a bit like the one used to tear a deck in halt Pretend to grasp the deck very tightly, actu- ally loosening the right hand's grip. You will now create the illusion of unscrewing the deck, This is done by turning the left hand palm up while it holds the deck. The relaxed right hand allows the half of the deck it is supposedly holding to rotate (FIG. 7). The portion of the pack Beneath the fight and appears to remain constant. while the portion held by the left hand is now face up. The illusion is enhanced by body language and acting. The “unscrew’ must appear to be an act of brute strength. Hf you open your right hand and move it away you will find that the deck is almost in dealing position in the left hand, but held high- er up so the upper end extends past the hand The top of the deck is pushed a bit farther forward than usual. Extend your left first finger to the outer end of the deck and pull it inward Until itis in regular grip. The face-down end of the double-ended card is toward the audienc: while the face-up end is toward you. You will now apparently repeat the actions Used earlier in the feint, here to prove that each card is screwed half down and half up. Using your right fingertips. smear the upper portion of the deck inward (the cards are injogged in a spread) for a few inches. The ‘ends of a number of backs are seen (FIG. 8). 101Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Then, using your right thumb, push those cards square. Without pausing, continue the hand's outward movement and allow cards to spread inward off the bottom of the deck (FIG. 9), escaping off the thumbtip. This expos- 8 a number of faces at the inner end, Note that The Depth Illusion is at work here, prevent- ing the spectators from seeing that the face-up cards are actually on the bottom of the deck Square the cards and repeat both the face- down outer end and face-up inner end spreads to display the unscrewed half-and-half deck then square again Angle your left hand slightly, bending it at the wrist, to bring the outer end of the deck to the right. Grasp the outer (face-down) end with your palm-down right hand in the “twist” grip. Your left hand continues to hold the inner (face-up) end in dealing position. With great effort, reverse the twist. the left hand turning palm down and rotating the deck, the right hand relaxing and allowing the cards to turn cover. Don't forget to make an extreme visible effort when doing it. ‘Once the deck has turned over, a normal back will be seen on top, The left hand lets go and turns palm up. The right hand places the deck into lefthand deal ing position so that the end it is holding becomes the inner end of the deck. (This posi: tions the face-up end of the double-ended card at the outer end of the deck). The right hand lets go and turns palm up. Spread the once- again completely face-down deck between the hands. Break the spread at center, taking half of the cards in each hand, and turn both hands over exactly as you did at the very start of the trick. Your left fingers will hide the face- down inner end of the doubleended card and all of the cards will appear to be facing one way. (Don't forget that a third of the deck is reversed directly above the bottom card!) Turn both hands palm up and reassemble the deck, squaring it afterward Angle the left hand. bringing the outer end Of the deck to the right. The right hand grasps the outer end as if to do @ Hindu Shutfle, and lifts it out of the left hand. The left hand re- adjusts so that the thumb is on top of the deck and the fingers are beneath. Simultaneously slide the top and bottom cards (oniy) to the left. while the right hand pulls the deck out from between them. Care must be taken not to expose the reversed half of the bottom card, and this is accomplished by titing the top of the deck toward the audience. This spot pass- €s ina flash, because the two cards are pressed together as soon as they clear the deck. The audience is aware that two cards have been removed from the deck Mention that it's best to practice unscrew. ing your deck with just a few cards. Square the triple card and place the deck aside. The right hhand grasps the triple card by its right end and rotates it counterclockwise (so that end turns toward the audience). before placing it into left hand dealing grip. The right hand then moves 10 the inner end of the card and grasps it in position for the twist. Once the right hand is securely holding the inner end of the double card (which must be kept closely, but not per- fectly, in alignment), the left hand turns palm down and grasps the left (outer) end for the twist. Execute the twist as already shown in FIGS. 6, 7. Here, however, you are apparently twisting only two cards. To clean up. simply say, “Well, we can't have anything like that lingering in a normal deck,” as you slip the triple card into your pocket. 102Paul Haris 7 TO CLEAN UP - Pick up the deck and place it into your left hand. Obtain a left pinky break between the facing portions (the natural break makes it simple to locate the proper spot). Flip the top card face up. letting it fall on top of the deck. Lower your left thumb onto the face-up card to hold it in position. Your right hand grasps the upper half of the deck in Biddle Grip. Execute an open slip cut. Your left thumb presses down onto the top card as your Tight fingers slide out the rest of the cards that are above the break. As the pulled-out portion clears, the card beneath the left thumb will drop onto the lower portion of the deck. The left hand immediately flips all of its cards face down and places them on top of the cards in the right hand, Everything is now as it should be, except the audience's sense of reality, An of 103 9 Astonishment PLoo NOTE. - The actual construction of the original screwed deck was engineered by Leo Behnke and Ron Bauer. The second mechanical version (which is pretty wonderful and is hopefully still on the market) was fine- tuned by Palmer Tilden. Richard Kaufman was designed by himselfPaul Harris The Art of Astonishment 104Paul Harts The Art of Astonishment Ui THERE BABY CAKES was recently talking with Daniel Cros ~ acknowledged French person. talented amuser of women, and professional Close-Up Kinda Guy extraordinaire. But just like any other kinda guy who wears tuxedo shorts and crushed velvet tennis shoes, Daniel has prob- lems too. Problems like what party to go to, how to get to the party, getting from one party to the next party, etc. Daniel contided to me that as a courageous wearer of T-shirts which read “I'm having a party in my pants and you're all invited to come,” he occasionally has trouble remembering the names of all the people he meets Having nothing to trade for his T-shirt but knowledge, | decided to divulge the secret of remembering names—that's right—the secret unpublished PH. Memory System. Daniel reve ently removed his party hat and gave me his undivided attention. “Its deceptively simple,” | explained. Whenever someone introduces themself to you-as in “Hi there, my name's Ted.” you immediately respond with “My stars and garters, that's amazing! My name's Ted too!” No matter what the person's name is— always tell them that’s your name too. Now the system works itself. The next time that person meets you he'll say “Hi, Ted, how's it going?” You know his name is Ted because he thinks you both have the same name. | stopped to catch my breath ~ flushed with pride. Daniel put his party hat back on, tucked in his T-shirt and said to me, “I don’t know, that sounds like a pretty preposterous plan. Do you think anyone would ever fall for a cheap trick like that?" Before | could reply, a nubile magic maiden walked up to me and said, “Hi there, my name's Paul. What's your name? “I didn’t know what to say. Daniel, sensing that | was in trouble, quickly covered for me by introducing himself to the gitl saying. “Your name's Paul? Well my stars and garters, that's amazing. My name's Paul too! .... Want to go to a party? ‘Sure, “she said. “Where?” Daniel smoothly untucked his T-shirt to reveal the location. | went home and invented a card t Uh THERE BABY CAKES A painless method for a shy or lazy Close- Up Kinda Guy to meet and pursue the woman of his droams through proper presentation of the double lit EFFECT - The Close-Up Kinda Guy wams the female spectator with the suspicously bumpy body that certain unscrupulous magi- cians have been known to use their special sleight-othand skill to win the hearts of attrac: tivo, intelligent ladies against their will, Ladies with ruby-red hair and long blonde lips—that’s right—Iadies very much like herseltPaul Harris The Are of Astonishmene The Close-Up Kinda Guy offers to demon- strate this immoral technique “for entertain- ment purposes only” He explains that the secret technique involves a card trick where the unsuspecting vietim is conned into writing down her name and phone number—but since he's an upright kinda guy and doesn't dare to risk any kind of emotional incident, he gallantly agrees to loan ‘out his own name and phone number for ‘entertainment purposes only.” The girl is directed to write the guy's name on one card and his phone number on the other card. The girl hangs onto the name card. The guy hangs onto the even more valuable phone number card, He tells the girl to wave her fin gers and say a magic word. The guy says he felt something funny happen. The git! says. oh, ‘no, not that. The guy says yes—his phone num- ber has vanished from his card! The gil looks at her card—it now contains both the guy's name and phone number (in her own hand- writing). The girl is amazed. The guy says that he can't use the card for anything else now—so she might as well keep it as a souvenir...and if she ever wants to know how his phone num- ber ended up on her card... or if she just wants someone to talk to... she should feel free to give him a call STEP ONE. - While engaged in a casual conversation, arrange matters so that the cards second and third from the face of the deck have similar appearances~such as, the Seven and Eight of Spades. The face card of the deck should be a card of contrasting appearance— like the King of Hearts. The face-up deck is held in left hand dealing position where a left lttlefinger break has been obtained below the top two cards to facilitate the double lift which follows. STEP TWO - Tum the double at the face of the deck down so that i's injogged for half of its length, Direct a female spectator to sign your phone number across the back of the card. Do everything you can to encourage her to write on the section of card supported by the deck 108 STEP THREE - Tum the double face up endiforend, square onto the deck (FIG. 1) Push the single (believed to be marked) King into your right fingers and call attention to the Eight of Spades. You might do this by saying. “Look here chaps—it's the Eight of Spades.” “Use the right side of the King to flip this card face down onto the deck. Follow this card down with the King so that the phone number remains concealed and the upper-half of the face-down card remains in view (FIGS. 2. 3).Paul Hacris The Art of Astonishment Direct the spectator to sign your name across the exposed back area of the facedown Nine, Grasp the right side of the King between your right thumb and forefinger. Turn the left hand palm down (alang with the deck} and thumb the reversed card face up in front of the spectator, while at the same time your right hand tosses the face-up King in front of your solf (FIG. 4). Place your hand on top of the King which supposedly contains your phone number and direct the lucky lady to place her hand onto the Eight which is now secretly inscribed with both your name and number. Make the magic happen ~ then race down home, sit on your phone and wait for the call 107Paul Havris The Art of Astonishment 108Paul Havris The Art af Astonishment THE PERFECTIONIST A003 apeoach 1 soving the problems ‘of achieving a perfect random shuffle CFFECT - The Close-Up Kinda Guy stops in the middle of his performance, stares at the deck in disgust, and announces to his con- cerned audience that he can't go on until the reds and blacks are more evenly distributed throughout the deck. He separates the unsight- ly non-random clumps of reds and blacks from each other into four neat face-up packets of segregated colors consisting of two red packets and two black packets. The perfectionist care fully shuffles one black packet into one red packet, and the other red packet into the other black packet. The two halves are then spread to reveal that the perfect shuffles “just missed’ All of the reds are back in one half while all of the blacks have unshuffled themselves into the other half. The perfectionist looks up at his audience and says, “Wow, what a bummer!” 409 TRANSPOSED PLRFLCTIONST The Close-Up Kinda Guy and parttime bummed-out perfectionist can't believe that his perfect shuffle was so imperfect and spreads through his red cards in the hopes of finding a few stray blacks cards, Boy oh boy is that guy mad now, because all twenty-six red cards have suddenly tured black—while the spectator who was going to help by searching through the original black halt for stray red cards finds nothing but red cards. (Yipes!) The perfectionist looks up at his audience and says, “Wow, jumbo-bummer. MYXED-UIP PERFECTIONST The Close-Up Kinda Guy, having recently experienced an emotionally taxing jumbe-bum- mer is about to end it all by shuffling the cards with his face. when he has one last s0-s0 inspi- ration that might possibly help him achieve his uasieasonable goal of obtaining @ perfect random shuffle of reds and blacks. How? (I'm glad you asked.) By using "Reverse ‘Ygoloheysp” That's psychology spelled back- wards, (I just reead this last thought and wanted to let you know that I know that there really is no excuse for this sort of childish indulgence in a serious work of card tricks. And yes! The exclamation point is unforgivable)Paul Hatris The Art of Astonishment True to his word Mr. Close-up Kinda Guy divides the two spreads into four packets of cards. Two reds and two blacks. Using reverse psychology he shuffles the two red packets then shuffles the two black packets. He crosses his finger, dots his eyes, then spreads the two halves face up, “Double Jumbo-Bummer and then some. Nothing's happened! The reds are still with the reds and the blacks are still with the blacks.” But the Close-Up Kinda Guy's groans of despair quickly tum into chortles of delight when, in a blinding flash of Hearts, Clubs, Spades and Diamonds the 52 cards instantly interchange, creating a perfect ran. dom shuffle of reds alternating with blacks! The Close-Up Kinda Guy stares at the mix and announces that the randomness of the reds and blacks is too random to be considered per fectly random. The nolonger concerned audience looks down at the perfectionist, says “Super Double Jumbo-bummer,” then wanders over to watch the nice man making those cute little balloon doggies. The balloon-doggie kinda guy stops in the middle of his performance, stares at his balloon doggie in disgust, and announces that he can't go on until the air is more evenly dis- tributed between the tail and the nose, The audience tries to pop the balloon-doggie kinda avy. Tue. PERFECTIONST STEP ONE - Make sure that the first three cards at the pack's face alternate colors (red black. red or black, red. black). Whatever color card is second from the face will be the up jogged color. Let's say the first three cards at the face of your pack are black. red, black Hold the deck face up in your left hand and Push the first three cards to the right so that, the sandwiched red card is casually concealed. Continue by openly upogging all of the other red cards (FIG. 1}, This should leave you with one red card secretly positioned second from the face of the black cards. 110 STEP TWO - Cut the extended deck into two halves. This does not mean “strip-out the jogged cards. “It means that the right hand separates the upper half of the extended deck from the left-hand portion’s lower or “back half (FIG. 2). As the left-hand section is tabled face up. the right hand tits the backs of its cards up toward the audience. Transfer the extended righthand packet to the left hand. Use your right thumb to secretly slide the black card at the packet's face square with the up- jogged red cards under cover of the right fin- gers swiveling out the up-jogged cards (FIGS. 3, 4), This action will eave you with the black packet in the left hand with a red card at its face~and the red packet in your right hand— with a black card at its face.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment Place these two disguised packets face up 0 the table to the right of the extended half, Openly disengage the genuine up-jogged red cards from the black cards and position these ‘two packets to the left of the other two pack- ets in ted, black, red, black order from left to right (FIG. 5). STEP THREE - Riffle shuttle the two cen- ter packets together so that the visible black card falls on top. Take care not to expose the hidden black cards. Push the shuffled cards together at an angle so that the “reds” can be ‘seen going into the blacks (FIG. 6). Slide this tunsquared half to the left above the left-hand packet. Shuffle the two end packets together in the same way except this time allow the red card to fall last. + ary +7 XY + 4 \- v3 STEP FOUR - Position your right and left fingers over the two halves so that the cards are boxed in from all four sides (FIG. 7). a 7 — ‘Square the cards by sliding your thumbs across the inner side of the halves. Spread both halves towards yourself at the same time (taking care not to expose the odd-colored card second from the face of each half) revealing that the reds from one half and the blacks from the other half have either vanished or transposed ~ depending upon how you feel that day (FIG. 8) TRANSPOSED PLRFECTIONST STEP ONC. - Use both hands to scoop up the two spreads. As the squared cards are turned face down, your thumbs slide out the cards at the face of each half (FIGS. 1, 2). Flash the faces of these two cards (looking for stray colors) and drop them face down onto their face-down halves.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Continue by cutting both halves about a third of the way down with both hands, flash the faces of the cut-off portions, replace them, Pick up both packets, backs to the audience, and tap their sides against the table to square them, Table the right-hand packet face up while the lefthand's packet is held face up at the fingertips from below at the inner end. NOTE ~ In case you haven't noticed, you just executed the “PH, fudge-o packet switch. The black packet is actually a red packet dis uised by a black card, while the red packet is actually a black packet disguised by a red card. The initial cutting of the tabled halves shows that the colors are where they're supposed to be. The audience doesn't care. When you square the packets with their backs to the audience, you've parlayed their not caring into not remembering. When you then turn both halves face up, your not-caring, notremember- ing audience will be unaffected by the not- announced position change of the colors. STEP TWO - Direct a spectator to hold out fone hand palm up. At this moment the card at the face of the left hand is palmed off with the right hand as follows: Place the first joints of your fingers against the outer end of the card (FIG. 3). Press down and forward with your fight fingers causing the face card to slide over the end of the deck ~ then lever into the right palm (FIG. 4) In a continuing action, the left hand turns the deck face down where the right fingers then grasp the right end of the cards from above (FIG. 5), In actual practice, the right fin- gers touch the face of the packet for just an instant on its way to grasping the right end of the deck. The palm should be executed in action as your hands move toward the specta- tor to deposit the cards face down on her wait: ing hand. (Note: You may find the palm easier if the card is pushed a little bit over the end of the packet first.) STEP THREE - Position your right palm directly above the tabled “black” packet. As you drop the palmed red card onto the face of the packet, immediately box the packet from all sides with your right fingers (FIG. 6). Pause for a second, then spread the cards to reveal their flash transformation into red cards (taking care not to expose the single black card second from the face (FIG. 7), The spectator will need 1no prompting to examine her packet of no: longerred cardsPaul Harris The Art of Astonishment MXED-UP PERFECTIONST STEP ONE. - Scoop up the red spread off the table and casually slip the bottom card into the packet as the cards are tabled face down Take the black cards from the spectator and place them face down to the right of the other packet. Both hands simultaneously cut each packet in half ~ moving the two cut-off top Sections to the left of the bottoms as in FIG. 1 (Note that the right-hand packet is placed to the left of the original left packet.) From right to left you should now have: a black packet, a red packet with a black card at its face. a black Packet. and a red packet STEP TWO - Turn the two packets on the Tight face up (apparently two black packets) and riffle shuffle them together (without squar- ing them) so that the back righthand card falls first and the top righthand card falls last. Note that one-third of the shuffled lefthand packet semains in view. When shuffling, try to make the shuffle as “complete” as possible. If you can faro the cards together from a tabled posi tion (it doesn’t have to be perfect) so much the better. Position the unsquared packet so that the end with the shuffled.in portion is toward yourself (FIG. 2) 113 Now gently ribbon-spread this packet toward yoursell (start by lightly pressing down at the Center of the unsquared packet) to display all black cards (FIG. 3). The red cards remain hi den behind the black cards due to the nature of the unsquared shuffle, A litle practice will ‘ive you the proper soft, even touch. If your spread clumps up in areas because your touch was too light (which is safest), Then simply tap" these areas with your fingertips to thin them out ~ exposing more of the black spread STEP THREE - Grasp the right facedown Packet from above by its sides with your right fingers. Pick up this packet, decide that it's a few cards light, then add a card or two by holding it over the other face-down packet, using your right fingers to pick a card off the top of the tabled pack - adding it to the face of the right-hand packet. Turn both packets face up and riffle shuffle (or tabled faro) the ‘two “red” packets together. The lefthand cards {all first and last, leaving the unsquared right- hand packet extending for about a third its length. Position the unsquared red cards so that the extended one-third is toward yourself. Ribbon spread these cards toward yourself in ‘the same fashion as the black spread to dis: play all red cards. STEP FOUR - Use both hands to scoop up and square the two spreads—then re-spread both packets to reveal the instant intermingling of the reds and blacks.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment PERFECTIONST NOTES | originally devised and performed these three sequences as individual effects. Here's that handling if you want to do a solo. PLRFECTIONST - At the end simply scoop the spreads up and shuffle them back together. if you need to end up with two “clean spreads, then continue to the point where the two spreads are turned down and the face cards are slipped to the top. Pick up one of the halves from above by its sides with your left fin- gers and obtain a left littlefinger break above the bottom card. Add this card to the top of the other half as the left hand picks it up ~ adding the tabled half onto the face of the other first half. The left little finger still retains a break. Turn your left hand palm-up and grasp the cards above the break from above by their ends with your right fingers, Drag the face card onto the lower left-hand half as the right hand slides the half above the break away to the right. TRANSPOSED PERFECTIONST - Separate the reds and blacks in the same fash- jon as in the “Perfectionist” except don't split the deck into two halves before the switch, Just do it with the entire deck. You can now go directly into the transposition effect by palming off the card at the face of one of the halves. If you need clean colors at the end, hold the tainted packet face up and double-undercut the two face cards to the back. Drop this packet face up onto the other face-up cards and you're set. 114 MXCD-UP PERFECTIONST - Open the same as Transposed Perfectionist with the Up Jog Packet Switch. After dividing the cards into four face-down packets, pause a moment to let the discrepancy heal up, then turn the two cer ter packets face up. They'll both appear to be the same color. Shuffle so that the top card of the left-hand packet falls last. Spread to show cone color, then turn the two end packets face Up for shuffling. They'll already be “set” to show the same colors. Shuffle so that the left hhand packet falls last. Spread to show one color and complete the effect PUsoTNoTE - | hadn't thought about this sequence for about ten years when someone showed me an astonishing series of red/black transpositions. | begged him to tell me the source. It was from “Close-up Kinda Guy.” | couldn't hold out any longer. | had no choice but to read the bookPaul Harris The Art of Astonishment INSTANT REPLAY wo show-stopping flourishes where cards leap back and forth between the deck and the performers fingers. Uninformed audiences will guess that you possess great talent and have dedicated hundreds af hours into perfect- ing your skills. In this case, your audience's guess will be correct. hate to admit it, but this single flourish is probably the highlight of my close-up perfor mance. This either says @ whole lot for this flourish, or some not-nice things about my act Instant Replay is a combination of thoughts first thought by Daryl, Magic Juan, and Eddie Fechter. An Ace or a selected card finds itself by leaping up off the deck into the performer's, fingers. For an instant replay, the card suddenly leaps back to the deck and then instantly springs back up to the performer's fingers. | personally use this to produce the second Ace of "Tap Dancing Aces” (see Index). It literally stops the show. You'll have to spend a substan tial amount of time to achieve accuracy and consistency with “Instant Replay.” But if you don't think it's worth the effort - | won't feel bad at all (Once you understand the action of this flour: ‘sh; that is, how the cards are held, what direc- tion they're supposed to go in, and what they're supposed to be doing on the way there you'll pretty much be on your own. The “feel,” the pressure adjustments, and the basic sense of how to put the pieces together can only be learned through studied practice: con tly re-evaluating what you think is the right way to do it, remembering how something feels when it works, and consciously weeding out the stuff that doesn’t, Follow the illustra- tions to get an overall sense of the action. practice for awhile, then go over the check- points list for one last ray of hope. PART ONE. - The top card of the deck held in the left hand springs off the deck. does a hal-turn, then lands face up between the right fingers (FIGS. 1. 2).Paul Hanis The Art of Astonishent cue CL PANTS 1. Deck held flat against left palm 2. Forefinger pushes up on center of the up- jogged (just a hair) card's end 3, Tension (very light) created by card being pressed up against pads of fingers and thumb. 4. Left side of card released “first” (from thumb). 5. Right side of card pivots off the right fin- causing it to turn face up 6. Both hands positioned so that neither hand has to move when card jumps. 7. Left forefinger pushed straight out to spring card. 8. The flight of the card should be instanta- neous, like a paper clip suddenly being attract- ed to a magnet - one moment on the deck - the next moment it's in the right fingers. 9 PART TWO - A card held in the right fin- gers suddenly shoots back onto the deck as though attracted by a powerful magnet (FIGS. 3, 4) cueck PANTS 1. Deck held in same position from conclu- sion of part one - with the exception of the left forefinger which has moved away from the end of the deck. 2. The back of the righthand card and the back of the deck must be on the same plane. 3, The right forefinger pushes out to spring the card a little below center. 4, Thumb side of the card moves “first. allowing lower side of card to pivot off of fin- gers. 5. Card should hit the deck flat - and stop instantly, 6, Only a small amount of tension is required to spring the card PRESENTATION - A selected card or one of the Aces in a series of Ace productions is face down on top of the deck. Shoot the card off the deck into your right hand. Regrip the card for part two by sliding your right thumb and forefinger - moving the lower side of the card into position at your right fingertips. Pause for a moment to say, "And now for an instant replay.” Wait a beat ~ then shoot the card onto the deck so that it's slightly upjogged. The instant the card hits the deck, your right forefin- ger shoots the card back into your right hand. Practice so that your right finger moves reflex- ively the moment it feels the card land. Hold your pose until the cheers subside.Paul Harris The 4 BONUS CFFECT - The Splatt Change: A card visibly changes as it files through the air and hits the deck METLIOD - Perform part two of “Instant Replay” with two cards held back-tothack dis- guised as one 17 PUboTNoTe. - Janet Sue Harris. my very favorite Close-Up Kinda Sister, has recently mastered “Instant Replay. “Janet's semi-annual attempt at card tricks makes me glad that she still has her Ping-Pong career to fall back on. | mention this note not to make it tougher for Janet to hustle unsuspecting tourists at Ping Pong but to make you feel really lousy, in case you give up on Instant Replay. Could you live with yourself knowing that someone's litle sister could whip your butt with a deck of cards?Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment SIMPLE. SWITCH “5 imple Switch may very well be the most difficult flourish to perfect next to the Perpetual Motion Coin Myth, But there's one big difference. “Simple Switch’ is not a myth. Even though it's right on the edge of impossi ble “Simple Switch’ can be performed and mastered, If you turn out to be one of those rare individuals who has the willingness and determination to pay the price for achieving the almost impossible, you'll have acquired the ability to cause the top card of the deck and a card held in your other hand to simultaneously somersault through the air, fly past each other in miciflight, where the card from the hand then lands on the while the card from the deck lands back in the right hand. EDITOR'S NOTE - This is not a joke. If you haven't personally seen Paul do this - ask around. It can be done - but you won't believe it STEP ONC - Completely master “Instant Replay,” (Previous effect.) STEP TWO - Follow the illustrations to get an overall sense of the action. Practice for awhile. Go over the checkpoints, then decide if you're willing to give up the next six months of your life to lea a “Simple Switch” The card from the hand and the card from the deck leave their starting positions at exact ly the same time and switch places (FIGS. 1, 2), 119Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment cukckPoNntS 1. The card that leaves the deck makes one more revolution than in Instant Replay. it starts face down and finishes face down. Master this bofore going on. 2. Keep your elbows at your sides to achieve a consistent distance. 3, The card and the deck are angled slightly away from each other. 4. Focus your attention on the card that’s going to the deck ~ let the card traveling from the deck take care of itself. 5, The card from the deck is caught with the right hand between the thumb, second, third and litle fingers: 6. If the two cards are colliding in mid-light raise your right hand slightly. Note that the card from the right hand flies over the card from the deck - but not by much (see FIG. 2) 7.The right hand drops down about an inch 188 soon as its card is released in order to be in position to catch the card from the deck 8 “Locking in” the various angles. distances timing and pressures will be a gradual process. Don't lose faith. If you're willing to pay the price, you'll have demonstrable proof that you're a genuine solid-gold Close-Up Kinda Guy, 120 PLUcotNoTE - “simple SwitctT can also be used as shock-therapy to help someone get over the urge to know your secrets: Offer to reveal how you do one of your easi: er illusions. First the effect: Double lift to dis: play an “Ace.” Turn the double down and push off the face-down single into your right fingers. Comment that the Ace and the top card of the deck will change places. Hold the facedown ‘Ace’ and the deck just as though you were about to do the Simple Switch,.but just twitch your fingers to mime the action, Reveal an indifferent card in your right fingers while the ‘Ace is now on top of the deck Then “expose the simple secret” by making the two cards change places in slow-motion by doing the Simple Switch for real. People believe this. Keep a straight face and be Kind To master any or all of the above requires deep practice. You have to enjoy the art of lick ing honey from the blade...where slicing up your tongue is all part of the fun.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment BEFORE - The happy-aclucky King of Hearts is “ralaiaing” his way through life as a powerful high-value face card with a song in his heart and a sword in his hand. Yes. indeed, he is one happy fella AFTER - The King of Hearts, a victim of painful waxy buildup, has taken the coward's way out by raising the sword in his hand and sticking it in his ear STEP ONE. - Hold the deck with its back to the audience, spread through the cards. Cut the King of Hearts to the face of the pack and the King of Clubs second from the face. As the cards are squared into the left hand, obtain a loft itle-finger break beneath the two Kings and position your left thumb across the King of Hearts. Note that your right fingers, having just squared the spread are gripping the deck by its ends. Hang onto the double King, i's back to the audience. with your right fingers as the deck is tabled face down. Grasp the double from the back by its sides with your left fin- gers. Announce an observation test as your left fingers press the face of the double against your right fingers (FIG. 1). Tilt your left hand palm up so that the double is face up under your right hand. 421 UE ADACHE STEP TWO - Allow the spectator to observe the King of Hearts for three seconds by spreading your right fingers (FIG. 2). Note that the swords remain concealed behind the first and second fingersPaul Haris The Art of Astonishmene Close your fingers to conceal the King and ‘ask question #1, “What is the name of the card?” When the spectator answers “the King of Hearts.” pivot your right hand to the right, exposing a slice of the King of Hearts (keeping the swords concealed (FIG. 3). STEP THREE - Move your right fingers back over the King and ask question #2 "What is the King of Hearts holding in its hand?" Whatever the spectator answers, pivot your right hand to the right along with the top card of the double to reveal the sword at the innerleft corner of the King of Clubs (FIG. 4). Your right hand conceals the parts of the King of Clubs which would identify it as the King of Clubs. Pivot your right hand back to the left so that it covers the card and squares the double in preparation for question #3. ‘What would happen to the King of Hearts (pivot your right hand to expose the outereft hearts index— then cover it again) if| made it sit on its own face (turn your right hand palm-up holding the double face down on your palm) then dropped the deck onto it? STEP FOUR - Pick up the deck and drop it face down onto the double (FIG. 5). The car- rect answer isthe King would get a headache. Now for the last question. “Do you know how the King of Hearts gets rid of a headache? He sticks the sword in his ear.” ‘Turn the deck onto your left hand and dis- play the King of Hearts with the sword in its ear. Cut the King into the deck and move on to @ more pleasant subject, ANOTHER HEADACHE. Richard Kaufman doesn't like to waste any time in sticking the sword in the King’s ear 50 at the point in handling where the unstuck sword is displayed at the innerdeft comer, the tower card is regripped so that it's held from below by its side between your left thumb and fingers (FIG. 6). Your left fingers then press against the right side of the upper concealed King and square it with the lower KingPaul Haris The Art of Astonishment The right hand moves along with the upper The right hand is removed, the double is card to the left as it squares (FIG. 7) then snapped. then dropped into the deck. If you immediately slides back to the right to expose ‘want a real headache for yourself, instead of the lower left corner of the stuck King (FIG. 8) unloading the double onto the deck, cop the concealed unstuck King with your left hand as the stuck King is tossed out for examination. Richard informs me that he's currently work- ing on a migraine version where the King sticks the sword in his ear without any cover at all. | thought about this for days, my head started pounding...and | began the search for something to release the pressure, 128Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment 124Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment BAD ESTIMATE o me. oe ofthe most dezaing demon TT Sects ofp st wos to bo al fo et any numb of cos ead fr he Soc Gi a prt once snd peo sl Unc iet weiner unde took tee cust npn card tm out etis unt walt and aay fo ane She ok one ad ed the set es. cage onthe cas aco which sid someting ite" in ow wih our andrea The peor ate pty sas ow tots fe Grate wr sen decorate Srjtmessnge on eared nt tho ‘ovele pesrtonse od Etna whch raw ble ret of n= yet the ode ence tram ta eye ween nthe presence o'geuie Close Kinds Gur Hf EFFECT - The Close-up Kinda Guy lates that the selected card is seven cards down in the deck. His estimate is revealed to be a little off when the top card is dealt and seen to be the selection. The selection is buried back into the pack and the Close-Up Kinda Guy makes a new estimate of seven cards down in the deck. Seven cards are dealt down - the selection is nowhere to be seen. The estimator can't believe he's made two bad estimates in a row ~ it must have been a bad count He double checks by counting the seven cards backwards: Seven, six, five, four. three, two, one. two, three, four, five, six, seven, Nope = exactly seven cards. He stares intently at the packet of “seven” and reestimates that the card is exactly halfway down. He carefully cuts off half the packet and gives it to a spectator. Another bad estimate has crept in, The specta: tor and the estimator each now hold only one card, The bad estimator transforms himself back into a Close-Up Kinda Guy by taking the two indifferent cards, making one last irr possible estimate of seven, then actually count- ing down seven cards (using just the two cards) to lacate the selection! 125Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP ONE - Control a selected card to the top of the deck - say the Eight of Clubs. Hold the deck face down in your left hand, eye the deck, then estimate that the selection is seven cards down. Ask for the name of the card, then deal the top card face up onto the table revealing the Eight ~ your estimate was a little off. Spread six cards into the right hand. Place the Eight onto the deck, obtain a left lttlein- ger break above it as the six cards from your right hand are placed onto the deck. Cut halt of the cards from the bottom of the deck with your left hand and place them onto the righthand half so that they overiap slightly to the left (FIG. 1). The idea here is to keep a separation between the seven cards above the break and the rest of the deck. Undercut the ‘cards from below the break to the top - leav- ing the seven-card packet on the face of the deck side-jogged to the right. Momentarily grasp the deck between your left thumb and fingers to position your right hand above the deck, the packet's inner left corner and outer right corner held between your right thumb and little finger (FIG. 2) STEP TWO - Studiously peer at the deck ~ ‘weigh the cards in your hand - then solemnly estimate that the Eight is now seven cards down. Make a pointer out of your left forefinger and one at a time ceremoniously slide the top seven cards off to the table to form one stack. Note that the deck stays positioned directly above the tabled cards. As each card is slid off, the deck moves to the right ~ then moves back to position over the pi After the seventh card has been dealt, turn it face up with your left fingers revealing another bad estimate. Replace the nor-Eight of Clubs face down onto the tabled packet. You'll now do Vernon’s Transfer Move. The left hand removes the deck while the right hand, along with its diagonally held block, drops straight down onto the tabled cards (FIGS. 3, 4). The deck is tabled and the packet immediately picked up and dropped into the left hand. STEP THREE - Comment that you'l count the cards backwards to double check your esti mate. Deal the cards face down onto the table into a stack counting 7-6-5-4-3-2-1-2-3-4- 567 Invjog the next-to-last card onto the tabled packet. Grasp the packet from above by its sides with your left fingers. Turn your left hand palm up.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Grasp the face-up packet from above by its ends with your right fingers obtaining a left lit- tle-finger break above the jogged card as it's squared, Riffle down half of the packet with your left thumb. Grasp the riffled-off half with your right fingers. Pretend to hand this rifled off half to a spectator ~ but actually take only the top card (FIG. 5), As the spectator takes the “half-packet,” your left hand turns palm down secretly dumping all of the cards from below the break (everything but two cards) onto the top of the deck (FIG. 6). Without pausing, your left hand turns palm up and joins the right hand (FIG. 7) - disguising the two cards as a half packet STEP FOUR. - Reveal that your cards have vanished by snapping the double ~ showing a single card. If you're not into double snapping = then simply move the double to your left fingertips. grab the spectator’s card and brush its left side up and down against your double's right side to reveal its “singleness.” Display the faces of the two cards - then place the faceup single on top of the face-up double. Turn the three-card unit face down STEP FIVE - Peer intently at the “two” cards and make one last bad estimate. “Your card is exactly seven cards down.” Grasp the cards from above by their ends with your right fingers. Count “one” as you slide the top card off into your left hand, As you come back to count off card number two, the left-hand card is left under the righthand cards. Leave this second card on the bottom of the righthand cards as card number three is counted off, Continue this Alice-in Wonderland count until you've counted down seven cards. This will leave you with a single in your left hand and a double in your right. The audience is only aware of the single non-Eight of Clubs. Display the face of the double, then drop it face down onto the deck, Toss out the “seventli card face Up revealing the Eight of Clubs..a good esti mate! 127Paul Haris The Art of 128Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment RETURN OF THE BIZZARE SURINZ QVITH INSPIRATION FROM DOLIG BENNETT AND Ricky SANCHEZ) ne day | was jogging down the street per- forming the “Bizarre Vanish” from Close-Up Fantasies Finalé for anyone who would care to watch, when | slammed smack dab into Doug Bennett who'd been jogging down the street from the opposite direction performing his shrinking-card effect for anyone who would. care to watch, The impact caused both our cards to mush together. | said, "Hey. Bennett— you've got your crummy shrinking card all over my brillant Bizarre Vanish.” Doug said. “Hey, Harris, you've got your highly over rated Bizarre Vanish all over my stunning Shrinking Card.” We then both looked down at our mushed- together cards, thought for a moment, then looked up at each other and said, "Hey ~ you're quite @ guy. PAUL HAR15' RETURN OF THE BIZARRE SLRIN, From the marketed manuscript as described by Richard Kaufman Paul Harris announces that he will show the audience “alittle surprise” and brings a few cards held together by a rubber band out of his pocket. He displays both sides of the pack et t0 show two Jokers, back to back He removes the rubber band and places it aside. He then slides the Four of Hearts out from between the Jokers and repasitons it soit sticks out from between the two Jokers, Paul asks the spectator to hold onto the projecting end of the Four of Hearts so she can get her litle surprise.” Suddenly, Paul pulls the Jokers in opposite dections, leaving the Four of Hearts in the spectators fingers. where it's SHRUNK TO HALF OF ITS ORIGINAL SIZE, thus Golivering the promised “tle surprise” in @ big way. YOU NEED ~ A rubber band that comfort abi fits round the width of a card, a mini Four of Hearts, a normal Joker with 2 back that sort of matches the mini and @ normal size double face card that’s a Joker on one side and a Four of Hearts on the other side (Paul says heprefers doublefacers with blue backs)Paul Harrie The Art of Astonishment SETUP - Place the doubletfaced card on the table (the card showing face up should match your miniature card), narrow ends to the right and left. On top of it, aligned with the left end, place the face-up miniature. Place the reg ular card face up on top of all. Finally, slide a rubber band around the packet so it wraps the cards at the right side of the miniature card (FIG. 1). You may want to place a pencil dot on. the face of the normal card so you know which side is which when you bring the packet out af your pocket, Paul has an irrational fear of pencil dots. But that's his problem To PLRFORM - STEP ONE. - Bring the packet into view and casually flash both sides. It can even be dropped on the table for a few moments before the trick begins. Pick it up and tum it so the end with the miniature card is to the left and the pencildotted side is upward. Your right hand grasps the packet from above, thumb at inner side, fingers at outer side, at the left end (FIG. 2). Your left hand reaches under the pack- ‘et and grasps the rubber band, pulling it to the right, and off the right end of the packet. It is placed aside. STEP TW - Your right hand turns palm, up for a moment to flash the matching card on the underside of the packet, then turns palm down again. Your left hand returns to the left end of the packet and pretends to shave the bottom card a bit to the right. This is immedi- ately followed by pulling the SAME bottom card, “the double-facer’ to the left to display an odd “third card,” which is in fact the other side of the double-faced card (FIG. 3), Pull the dou- blefacer completely out and drop it to the table, odd-card side up. STEP THREE - Your right thumb and fin- gers hold the miniature card in place beneath the regular card. Apparently, you've displayed 2 three-card packet consisting of two matching face-up cards (one on each side of the packet facing out). You then pretended to slide out an ‘odd “third card” from the center. While in fact you revealed the other side of the double-facer. ‘The audience thinks you have two regular matching cards in your right hand... you actual ly have one normal card and one mini card. STEP FOUR - Your left hand returns to the left ond of the packet and reaches beneath it. Slide the miniature card a tiny bit to the left, just enough to expose its leftong side, This appears to be the end of the other supposed matching card. Your right hand once again grips everything tightly. 130Paul Haris STEP FIVE. - Your left hand returns to the table and picks up the odd-side-up double- facer. Insert its outer-tight comer between the regular card and exposed side of the miniature card (FIG. 4) It appears as if the odd card is being slipped between the pair of matching cards, Shove the ‘odd card (actually the double-facer) forward until its outer end butts into your right second finger. While your right hand continues to hold everything firmly, your left hand lets go and re- grips. It grasps the left end of the whole busi: ness, thumb above and fingers beneath (FIG. 5) STEP SKK ~ Once your left hand has a firm grip on everything, your right hand releases its grip... and grasps the odd card from above as, in FIG. 6, pulling it to the right. 131 1e Art of Astonishment AAs this happens, your left fingers keep the miniature card beneath the odd card. While your left hand holds all the cards. your right hand lets go and reaches around the outer end of the odd card, fingertips curling beneath. In this position you can adjust the miniature card, pulling it forward until its outer end is a hair inward of the outer end of the odd card (FIG. 7), STEP SEVEN - Your right hand shifts posi- tion again, moving to the right end of “the pair” (actually the single regular card) and grasping it in a position identical to your left hand. Ask the spectator to extend her first fin- ger and thumb and lightly grasp the end of the odd card. In reality she gasps both the double- facer and secret mini card. The spectator will only feel one “normal” card PRE-SuURINE CLEC - + Spectator lightly pinches the outer end of odd sandwiched card (the doublefacer) along with the hidden mini + Palmup left fingers hold the left side of the sandwich, thumb on top of regular card, fingers pressing up against double-facer. ‘+ Palm up right fingers hold the right side of the sandwich in a position similar to the lett hand grip. Both thumbs rest on the inner cor ners of the top card. In a moment, you will apparently jerk the top and bottom “matching cards” away ~ leaving the spectator holding the middle card In fact, your right hand will pull away the top card while your left hand secretly snaps the doublefacer out of the spectator's grip, turing it over in the process, leaving her holding the mini card. All right here we go.Paul Harris The Art of Ast ‘Two things happen at the same time: your right hand takes the regular card and moves about six inches directly to the right. while your left fingers take the doublevacer (the card held by the spectator) and turns palm down as it moves six inches to the left (FIG. 8) The effect on the spectator is that the full size odd card, which was held in her own fin- gers, instantly and visibly shrinks into a miniar ture card! Apparently, you've simply pulled your, two matching sandwich cards away in a sharp dramatic action, shment TO RESET ~ Gently pry the mini foose from your shocked spectator's fingers and sandwich it face up between the ather two cards as in FIG. 1. Snap the rubber band around the packet and drop the bundle in your pocket..leaving you ready to surprise and shrink at the slightest whim ‘+ Fine tuning: Your left thumb slides from the top card onto the lower left comer of the double-facer as it pulls the double-facer away. Pull this card with a sharp, quick action to insure that it pulls free from the spectators ari Description reprinted with permission of Richard Kaufman. (Is this one great guy or what?) Editorial liberties taken by myself PLlootNotes - * When pulling the two cards away pull the cards DOWN and to the sides. f you pull up fon the cards you may cause your spectator to drop the mini, This is @ bizarre moment but not what you're shooting for. + A quick trip to the print shop and you could make this up with your own business cards so you can hand out a minkbusiness card to your fullsize clients, Print on a heavy card stock with a slick finish (like a playing card). You need two normal business cards that are blank on one side and a bunch of mint business cards that are small on both sides.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment CHOCOLATE COIN PL/DICK RYAN 2 umor has it that an escaped convict from Swiss prison has flooded the U.S. econ- ‘omy with counterfeit quarters. A spectator's suspect quarter is peeled open and discovered to be manufactured from Swiss chocolate. The Close-Up Kinda Guy restores the peeled coin to its original quarterdike condition - returns it to the spectator ~ then warns her to keep the coin out of the sun and to contact the folks at M&M as soon as possible. PREPARATION ~ Buy a pack of Juicy Fruit gum and discard the entire package except for one of the foil wrappers. Fold the foil wrapper in half (norfoll surface on the inside) and tear out a pizzaslice shaped section as in FIG. 1 Locate a chacolate-colored marking pen or rayon to color in half of the nonfoil surface of the torn-out section (FIG, 2). Note that the non- colored half has been slightly curled. Place this prepared slice into a convenient right-hand. pocket oy 133 STEP ONC - Before starting, clip the slice of foil by its curled end between your right first and second fingers (FIG. 3). Borrow a quarter from a spectator (or use one of the coins you've been performing with). Hold the coin in your left fingers and rub your right thumb across its surface Pretend to lick your thumb “tasting the coin’ while actually moistening the fiat foil side of the fingerclipped slice. You detect traces of chocolate and decide to investigate further. STEP TWO - Transfer the coin to your right fingers ~ pressing it against the moist ened surface of the foil. Examine the surface of the coin for a moment ~ then pinch it between your left thumb and forefinger ~ thumb on the foil side of the coin. Turn the foil side of the coin toward yourself ~ and re-grip the coin at its bottom edge between your right thumb and forefingerPretend to peel away the foil from the ‘chocolate” coin with your left fingertips. Briefly display the peeled chocolate coin to your audi- ence (FIG. 4) STEP THREE - Moisten your left forefin: ger, and press it down onto the peeled section, folding the foil section back over the chocolate section (FIG, 5), The foil will stick to your fore- finger. 134 er the coin to a similar position between your right thumb and forefin ger, so that your right thumb apparently stl Covers the peeled section. Rub the coin between your thumb and forefinger for a moment - then toss the coin out for examina tion - oF eating - depending upon how con: vincing your performance was. The foil stuck to your finger is easily detached by casually hooking the guilty finger over the edge of your back pocket big chocolate handshake goes 10 Looy for dreaming up the wet finger steal of the foil slice PUsotNoTe. - Michael Weber colors the foil with @ choco- late-scented marking pen, so passersby can actually get a whiff of the chocolate coin There's 2 remote possibility that you won't have chocolate-scented marking pen store in your neighborhood. In this extreme case you can ‘add your whiff by rubbing some real chocolate onto the foil Michael Ammar recently featured Chocolate Coin on one of his masterly videos ~ where- upon reviewers discovered it as “universally overlooked” miniclassic, Just thought you should know.BRAINSTORM IN THE BALAMAS 135Paul Harris The Are of Astonishmes 136Paul Hasris The Art of Astonishment BRAINSTORN IN THE BALHAMAS MICHAEL AMMAR/DARYL/ADAM FLEIScHER/P.U. he harrowing experience of four magic buddies who are forced to leave civilization and perform close-up for an entire week in an unchartered resort somewhere in the Bahamas! You Wil. Gasp at their resourcefulness in surviving seven days among the savages with nothing more than a case of suntan lotion and a six-pack of Tally-Ho's, Shiver at the hardships the fearless foursome endure as they bravely stroll along moonlit beaches without the benefit of proper footwear! Thrill as the guys struggle to create and audiencetest top-notch close-up presentations in a valiant effort to show that good magic combined with good times can help anyone escape into the pleasurable world of a Magical Brainstorm, 137Paul Hanis The Art of Astonishment 138Paul Haris The 1 Astonishment CARD CUFFS EFFECT - You construct a set of impromptu thumb cuffs from a playing card. You lock your- self into the torturous cardboard restraint and set Out to find the signed selection. After sever- al failed attempts the card cuffs on your thumbs are shown to have mysteriously trans- formed into the signed selection. An awed bystander pats your sweating brow with a handkerchief. You graciously allow her to keep the sweat STEP ONC. - Have a card selected and signed. Check the signature to see how many letters are in the name, and get a right thumb break above that many cards on the bottom, STEP TWO - Pivot off about half of the deck with the right index finger into the left hand. Have the signed card placed onto the lefthand packet and drop the right-hand cards onto it, transferring the break to the left little finger. Cut a small packet from the deck to the table, Then another and another until you hit the break. At that point put the rest of the cards onto the tabled packet. This running cut positions the signed card for a spell location. STEP THREE ~ Spell the spectator's name, one card for each letter. When you get to the last letter openly push off the top card and ask the name of their card. At the same time you allow the next card (signed selection) to spread off the deck and get a little finger break beneath it. Drop the right hand card back onto the deck and do a double turnover to show the signed selection. STEP FOUR - Flip the double back over onto the deck, and deal the top card off onto the table. You will now do the embarrassing yet effective “Giggle Switch It’s sort of a degenerate version of the Hamman Count which painlessly switches in the signed selec tion. Lift off a pile of cards with the right hand and briefly flash the indifferent card at the face (FIG. 1)Poul Harris The Art of Astonishment Turn the packet face down and pull the top face-down card off with the left thumb, so it’s, up-jogged onto the lefthand cards (FIG. 2) Table the righthand cards onto the sup- posed selection. Remove the up jogged card with your right hand and drop the rest of the packet onto the tabled cards. (This works because you're dealing with an indifferent card that no one much cares about, Of course, you could double lift to show an indifferent card then deal off the face-down selection, but you've already had that experience.) STEP FIVE. - Fold the face-down “indiffer- ent” card in half and in half again (Be careful Not to flash the face.) and tear out a circle. Unfold the facedown card to reveal two holes (FIG. 3) for a set of impromptu “card cuffs.” Carefully slip your thumbs into the holes keep- ing the back to the audience (FIG. 4), STEP Sik - Pretend that you are keeping a close watch on the position of the “signed card” as the spectator squares and cuts the deck. You're not sure if you should let her shut fle, but you finally relent when she promises to shuffle very slowly. Wiggle your trapped thumbs to warm-up, then do a series of inept attempts to find the selection with your cuffed thumbs. You can do anything: painfully sloppy cuts, botched flourishes, cards squirted onto the floor. For the right crowd you could even fall off your chair and onto someone's lap. Try to keep a straight face as you heroically strug- gle against all odds to find the selected card ‘At the peak of your incompetence when ail seems lost, slowly and dramatically revolve your thumbs, turing the cuffs face up to allow the signed card to find itself (FIG. 5). Climb out of the spectator’s lap and pick up your deck. PUsoTNoTE. - For a bonus effect pick up the tom holes and try to convince the audi- ance that what's really amazing is that the pieces have changed places too! + Editor André combines this with the sec- ‘ond phase of Chicago opener (aka Red Hot Momma). After the double lift of the odd car, André deals off the single. forces the matching card, and loses it in the deck, then turns the secret duplicate odd card into the card cuffs.Paul Haris The Art of Astonish THE BENT CoOPPER-SILVER TRANSPOSITION EFFECT - See title. STEP ONE. - You need a bent penny for this routine. A bent penny is most easily made by clamping a penny in a vice, and then hitting the penny with a small rubber hammer or mal- let until the penny is bent. The coin should not be mauled, but bent. The bend should not be extreme, and with a cloth on the vice there should be no vice, clamp, or hammer marks on the penny, You also need a regular penny and a dime. STEP TWO - The bent penny is in your right pocket. The regular penny is secretly clipped in your right hand, between the first and second fingers, You can borrow the dime if you wish. Place the dime in your left hand close the hand, and ask a spectator, “Would it be a good trick to make the dime vanish from my hand?” Then ask, “Would it be a great trick to make the dime vanish from inside your hand?” Your left hand displays the dime and the right hand is resting casually on the table nearby (FIG. 1). 141 AMMAR/P.U/DARYL STEP THREE. - Ask the spectator if she is right-of lefthanded. As she makes eye contact to answer (and she will), the right hand pre- tends to take the dime at its fingertips. The left hand actually turns over and retains the dime, while the right hand moves the clipped penny to the fingertips. Place the coin, calling it a dime, into their hand (right or left, according to their answer). Say you'll make the dime in their hand vanish, that they should squeeze it tight, and that you need some “help” to make the dime vanish STEP FOUR - Your right hand goes into the pocket and brings out the bent penny. Hold the penny at the fingertips and keep enough of it hidden so it looks like an ordinary penny. Say the penny will distract them so you can make the dime vanish. You pretend to place this penny into your left hand, while you actually koep it fingerclipped in the right. The left hand closes, apparently taking the penny, in fact holding onto the coin it had been retaining.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP FIVE - Tell the spectator that the dime in her hand has vanished, and that in fact it has changed places with the penny you just placed in your own hand. She won't believe you, but when she opens her hand, she has the penny. When you open your hand you have the dime, Leave the dime displayed on your open left palm. Have the spectator closely ‘examine the penny, apparently to prove that the coin is a real penny and not the expected dime. (What you are really doing is making cer. tain that the bent coin will register later on.) ‘Take the penny from the spectator and hold it as in FIG, 2, You still have the bent penny clipped between your right first and second fingers. a 142 Say you'll reverse the trick. As you reach for- ward to place the penny back into the specta- tor's hand, thumb-paim the regular penny and place the bent penny onto the spectator's fin- gers. Have the spectator immediately close her hand, holding the penny tight. Close your left hand into a fist around the dime, Give a squeeze, open your left hand, showing that you still have the dime. Tell the spectator to squeeze her penny tighter to make the trick work, Close your left hand, give a squeeze, and show the dime still there. Look confused and hhave the spectator open her hand. Tell her the trick didn’t work because she squeezed too hard! STEP SKK - Yes, itis true, the spectator will not feel that the penny you place into her hand is bent, as long as her hand is clenched closed. And, yes, this seemingly simple not‘oo- original routine is incredibly strong for real folks, Make up lots of bent coins, as the people you do this to will want the bent coin as a per- manent tribute to the moment. PUsotNote - Someone forgot to mention that the secret bent penny must be positioned in your specta- tor's hand so its bent portion is pressed snug against the crevice at the base of her fingers.Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment A UEFTY PENETRATION P.L/AMMAR/DARYL card is selected, signed, and shuffled into the deck. The audience stil has doubts about the safety and personal hygene of their card, so you hermetically seal your hand with the entire deck of cards into a large, clear plas- tic bag, The selected card rises out of the deck and penetrates through the bag. You spend the rest of the day with your hand in the bag because you think it looks cool. STEP ONE. - You need a deck of cards and a large, clear plastic bag. The bags we use are Baggies,” 11 x 13 inches. The deck and the bag can be examined. The bag should be flat on the table, with the open end toward your- self, Have a card selected, signed, returned, and control this card to the top of the deck STEP TWO - Hold the deck face down in left-hand dealing position. In the act of squar- ing up the deck with the right hand, palm the top (selected) card into your right hand. Your right hand then picks up the bag. grasping the bag at the top of the open end, with the thumb and fingers (FIG. 1), The left hand moves into the bag with the deck (FIG. 2) STEP THREE - Your right hand lets go of the bag, and moves on top of the bag, right over the deck, to help square the deck (FIG. 3) 143Paul Harris The Art af Astonishment The left thumb and fingers grab the palmed card through the bag, holding it against the deck, The bag is, of course, in between the deck and the selected card. As soon as the deck is squared (and the card is loaded), the left hand turns over, rotating the back of the hand upwards. The bag comes along for the ride. FIG. 4 shows the position after the hand has tured over. The right hand hardly moves during this action, remaining in the position shown in FIG, 3, as the left hand turns over, ending up as shown in FIG. 4. D STEP FOUR - The right hand holds the deck from outside of the bag, with the thumb on top of the left side of the deck, and the right fingers underneath (FIG. 6). The left hand inside the bag points to the “bottom” card of the deck, the card that is showing on the face of the deck. Name the card and ask the spec: tator if i's theirs, which it won't be. 144 ‘The left forefinger pushes into the center of the left side of the deck, enabling the left first and second fingers and thumb to pick up (cut) half of the deck to the left. This displays anoth er card on the face of the half-pack that the right hand stil holds through the bag (FIG. 6). Ask if this is the selected card, which it won't be. Remember, the right fingers are still hold- ing the selected card under the bag. against the deck. STEP FIVE - The left hand moves the half- pack itis holding under the right hand's hal pack. Thus. the left-hand's half-pack is going under the selected card. When you take deck ‘and bag in hand it will happen automatically - the selected card will actually be in the “mid- dle" of the deck, although it is outside the bag. while the rest of the deck is inside the bag Your maneuver has created a “pocket” that the selected card is in. You are holding the deck in the right hand just as you were in FIG. 5. STEP 51K - Take the deck back into the left hand, thumb on top (on the face) of the deck, with the fingers underneath (FIG. 7).Paul Harris The Are of Astonishment Move the “underside” of the deck up, so the When the card is halfway out of the bag backs of the cards are facing the spectators (FIG. 9) you can display the situation from all through the bag. The right hand grabs the bag angles, showing the face of the rising card to that is around the left wrist, holding it tight so—_-be the selected card. Keep a tight grip on the ‘nothing’ can get in or out of the bag (FIG. 8), deck with the left hand as you do this. Return to your “massaging,” and when the card is almost all the way out, have a spectator grab it and pull it out all of the way. You now pull the bag back, with the right hand, which will cause the selected card to rise up, aut of the side of the deck, right through the bag. You do not want to have it look like you are pulling on the bag though, so you do a few things at the same time. First of ali, you “massage” the deck with your left thumb and fingers. The movement of the left hand and fingers will hide the movement of the right hand and the bag. STEP SEVEN - The left hand is cleanly and slowly removed from inside of the bag and all can be examined. Visual, strong, simple, fun and keeps well in the fridge 145Paul Harris The Art of Aston 146Paul Harris The Art of Astonish THE HEDONISTS MAZE UP ieee ple ee CUMMING 5/HERZ. his card location with no cards is a chal: lenging effect to perform. It is a bold and somewhat complicated version of the old ‘Magician's Choice.” It forces you to think quickly, react instantly, and It is rarely less than great and often miraculous. The performer writes the name of a card on a piece of paper and places it aside, A spectator then chooses, by his apparent free will, a value and a suit. The performer's written prediction matches the spectator's choice. THE VALUC DECISION STEP ONE. - Write the prediction on a piece of paper, fold it, and have someone hold it. You will now force the spectator to decide upon Seven for a value and Spades for a suit. lif doing this for a woman you'd write down the Seven of Hearts.) Of course, he must never consider that he is being manipulated, and we have developed the guidelines and catch phrase that follow to prevent the spectator from such a realization. You must adopt a certain attitude. You must appear totally confident, you must appear unconcerned with the spectator's decisions, and you must proceed with absolutely no hesi- tation, Don't stammer or flinch, hesitate or pause, You must appear to have done this a million times and you never have missed. You should act almost as if you are bored by it all that you are hardly paying any attention, 147 Sounds simple so far, right? In fact it ist Use the same opening line every time - with pen poised above paper “The interesting thing about this trick is that | don’t do it... you do it, name a value of a playing card..like Ace, King, Three..any value” By naming those three values you'll most surely eliminate all the picture cards, the Aces, Twos and Threes from being named by the spectator. He will usually nam ‘a mid-range value (hopefully Seven). If he does name Seven (which is the “target” value) say. Fine, now name a suit,” and go onto Suit Decision, If he names a non-target value say, “Fine, and another value?..” Whatever value he names. write it next to the first value. If it is a Seven say, “Fine, now name a suit” and onto the Suit Decision. Ifit is a non-target value say, “and another?... and write this third value down forming a row of three, Always react instantly to the spectator’s answers, as if this is how the trick goes every time. If you perform this regularly you'll be sur- prised how often the first or second value named is Seven, Remember to never pause, and always go unhesitatingly to your next sen- tence. Now, if the target value is not named among the first three values, ask for three more by saying, “..and another..and another..and another..” and form a second rowPaul Haris The Art of Astonishmene of three values below the first. Continue this, making up to four rows of three values, until spectator names the target value. Always com plete a row to be consistent. You may end up with one, two, three, or four rows. You may end up with four rows and the value Seven in none of them, that is, Seven is the only value that has not been named - a strong way for the Seven to be “chosen. The best eventualities are when the specta- tor names Seven first or second, and when he names every value except Seven. In either of these cases go directly to the Suit Decision which I'l deal with shortly. For the other cases in which you have the target value in a row, you must force Seven from among the series of values the spectator has given you. See the fob lowing section on the forces to see how you can always force the target value. Clearly, the longer it takes the spectator to name the target value, the more contingencies you will have to deal with. In any case, when you have the tar- get value accounted for. always say. “..Fine ow we're going to do this a litle differently. give me a suit. TUE SUIT DECISION STEP TWO - With the Suit Decision there are four possibilities. First, the spectator may name Spades right off the bat. In this case you write it down and say, “Okay, remember | said that you do this trick, not me” and place the paper in front of him and hand him the pen. Second, the spectator names a non-target suit. Say, “..and another.” and write his second suit below the first, If it is the target suit use the same catch phrase again, “fine, now remember | said you do this trick, not me, and give him the pen and paper. Third, the spectator names all three non tar get suits, Interrupt him, so he doesn’t name the fourth (target) suit, and repeat the catch phrase given above Finally, the spectator names the target suit third. Say, “fine, and that leaves Clubs (or whatever non-target suit remains)..” and write it below the other three, Continue with the catch phrase above, and hand the spectator the paper and pen. 148 Tue FORCES You are at a point where the target suit and value are before you on the paper. Obviously, if you have one value and one suit on the paper it's miracle time and your greatest effort will consist in keeping a straight face, Usually, you will have one or two rows of values and a cou ple of suits. You may have 12 values and three suits, but with whatever combination, you must now aim the spectator's pen at the targets. You have said, “fine, now remember | said you do this trick, not me,” and you have given him the pen and paper. Here is where attitude and nhesitating decisions guide you. Your attitude, again, must be confident almost bored. and slightly impatient. You will be deliberately ambiguous and your impatience will be a result of the spectator’s lack of under- standing because of your ambiguity. For exam: ple, suppose you have one row of three values. Make quick circular motions with your wrist and ask the spectator to “circle two values heavily.” Watch him, and if he circles the two on-target values say, “concentrically.” He prob ably won't understand. so you say, with a litle impatience, *..no, circle them right out, over and over, so we can't see ther..” and he will Immediately go onto the suits. This is called the Circle Force, If he originally circles the target value and a nontarget value just let him make the heavy circles around them and before he is done cir cling say, “..and put a heavy °X’ at one..” If he marks the target value with the “X" say fine and go onto the suits. If he makes the nontar: get value with the “X” say, ”..no, heavily, right ut, eliminate it.” and have him put @ heavy “x” right over the value, obscuring it. Immediately go on to the suits. This is the X-Force. If you have two rows, use the Circle Force te force the target row. If you have three or four rows, use the following Line Force to selact the target row, Say, “Okay, draw a line connecting two rows.” if he connects two non-target rows say, “No, draw the line right through them.” a demonstrate with an imaginary pen (drawing 3 line through one row to and through the other indicated row). if he connects the target row with a nontarget row say, ~.fine, and circlePaul Harris The Art of Astonishment one of them heavily.” and use the Circle Force to force the target row, Then use the X-Force to begin forcing the target value from the tar- get row. And so on. When you have the target value narrowed down, don’t name it ~ just go right to the suits and continue forcing. The six forces used are summarized later, and they are actually quite similar and simple to remember. Eventually, the target suit will be “chosen” also, and then you build up for the climax TUE CLIMAX STEP THREE - You have manipulated the spectator into choosing the target value and suit, The spectator may not know exactly what he's chosen because of your noncommittal ambiguity, Also, you must appear to have no idea at all which value and suit have been selected. Always take the paper from the spec- tator and say, “Let's see what we've ended up. with..” Study the paper for a beat or two and start your verbal build up. Take advantage of every lucky break you get. Remove any ambigu: ities that you can and point out any consisten- cles, If the target value, for instance, was among the first three values named, and he “circled out” the two non-target values, make a point like, ”.Okay, you named three values and eliminated two of them leaving us with the value of..uh...Seven, If the selection process of the value was a litle muddy, don’t point out anything. Just say, “Let's see, you've got a Seven and..” then point out the suit. Whatever the situation, remember to appear as if the effect goes this, way every time. Finally, after you've determined that the spectator “chose” Seven and Spade, have your prediction read aloud FINAL COMMENTS: Clearly, the more often you perform this, effect, the more comfortable you'll become sith it, Although you may initially think it is ‘sky, if you consider and use the guidelines and catch phrases given here you will realize that risk has been formidably minimized. Very often the whole selection process takes no ‘more than a minute - you'll have two or three values and two suits. Since it seems in such a case that you always ask for two values and two suits it will be miraculous to the spectators that your prediction matches their choice. Admittedly, there will be the rare occasion when every possible bothersome decision is made by the spectator and the process becomes confusing and muddy. We regard this as the greater challenge - to make it work despite the spectator’s unwitting lack of coop- eration. But, truthfully, based on our experience the effect is almost always simple and direct. A few final recommendations, If the specte- tor has given you two rows of values and has not mentioned the target value yet. pause and say, "By the way, the reason I'm having you give me these values is because it | gave them you might accuse me of some psychological manipulation - remember | said that you do the trick, so you give me the values..name anoth- er..” and continue with making the third row. This statement breaks the monotony of asking for value after value and seems to eliminate the possibilty of any manipulation on the per- former's part When you say. *..name a value of a card like ‘Ace. King, Three. any value..” and the spectator says, “Okay, Ace.” get a different spectator to continue the trick. This guy is to0 nervous to be your helper. or he has no imagination, can't be manipulated, is fighting you. or all of these things! He'll probably say King next, then Three, and just start counting through the values Don't give him a second chance. Thank him and go onto another helper, or use a number of helpers to get the values down. SUNMARY OF FORCES The Circle Force, Always use the force on the Value Decision. If the spectator cir cles a target value. go to another force. if he Circles the non-target value(s), have him circle them in, eliminating them The Line Force, We prefer to use the Line Force on the Suit Decision if it hasn't already been used on the values. Have a spectator ‘connect two suits with a line.” If one of the ‘two suits connected by the line is the target suit go onto another force. If the two suits con-Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment nected are non-target suits then “clarify” what you meant by instructing the spectator to draw the line through the suits. The X-Force, Try to use the XForce on the Value Decision immediately following the Circle Force, Have a spectator “put a heavy ‘X’ at two values in the row..” As usual, if they're non-tar- get values, have him "X" them out. If one of the “X" marks is put on the target value, go conto another force ‘The Underline Force, For instance, ~.Draw a line on two of the suits..” If one is the target suit, "..No, just underline them.." If neither is the target suit say, "and eliminate them..” ‘The Check Force, Hopefully you won't need this force, Don't use it unless you have to. itis the same procedure as in the X Force, bout using a check mark. The Box Force, Again, only use this force after you have exhausted all the other forces. land draw a box around one of the suits you have underlined...” If the spectator boxes the target suit. fine, If he boxes the non-target suit cand fil it in” Tue CATCH PHRASES Always start off by saying, “The interesting thing about this trick is that you do it all, not me." Always say, after the target value has been named and before you go onto the Suit Decision, “..Fine, now welll do this a little dif- ferently..give me a suit. ‘Always repeat. after the target suit is down on paper, *..Remember, | said you do this trick, not me..” and tum the paper toward the spec- tator and hand him the pen. ‘Always. after the forcing is done, pull the paper toward yourself and say, “..Now. let's soe what we've got here..” as if you were hardly paying attention and have no idea what has been chosen. Never hesitate, You should be giving the spectator his next instruction as he finishes the last one Never appear to be paying very close atten- tion to the proceedings, 150 EXAMPLES 1, You've stopped after two rows. The Circle Force worked on the target row. The spectator Xd the Four and Nine, then you told him to X" them out completely. This leaves the Seven...You stopped after two suits. The spec- tator underlined Clubs - you told him, *..No. cross it right out, eliminate it like you did with the X's. 2. An excellent outcome. The spectator has named every value and suit except the target ones, “Seems like you've only left out one value and one suit..that’s funny..the Seven and the Spade..would you read my prediction please?”Paul Harris The Are 3. You've used the Line Force, then the Circle Force, to get to the target row. Then the X-Force and the Box Force to land the target value. The Underline Force followed by the Check Force has led you to the target suit. You might say, “..Let's see what we've ended up with here..You've got Seven and you checked the Spade suit..Would you read my predic- tion? 4, You won't believe how often something ike this occurs. One quick Circle Force and i is miracle time...keep a straight face. Moment like this make life and cocktail napkins mear ingful ts 6@ spades of Astonishment PLboteNote - | just read this again and it looks like some monstrously complicated math trick. Not so! It's just the nature of explaining all the contin: gencies of “a trick that can't be explained. Learning all the details is a small price to pay for a no-deck think-ofa-card where all you need is a napkin and an advanced degree in psy- chology. 151Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment 152Paul Hatris The Art of Astonishment A CARD WELL LUNG KAUFMAN/P.U/AMMAR/DAR YL his started as an almostimpossibleto-solve Push the gaff through the center of a card Vian and ended up as an ideal show- and place it in the position shown in FIG. 14 case for the power of brainstorming. Many (FIG. 1B shows the gaffed card face down on methods were developed and discarded, until top of the deck). we settled with the following method. There is little doubt that this is a real astonisher, and can even be done with a borrowed deck. As you read through this, notice how simple and direct the handling is, along with the fact that you appear completely clean all the way through, This is classically quick, powerful, and direct. STEP ONC - Get this card to the center of EFFECT - A card is selected and signed. the deck, which is held in the left hand, with {An ordinary coathanger is “sandwiched” in the the extra quarteranch of the gaff protruding to middle of the deck The coathanger is pulled the right, hidden between your second and out of the deck and the signed, selected card third fingers (FIG. 2 shows the left second and is impaled through the wie of the hanger The third fingers spread for clarity). Bring out the card is really torn off, and everything immedi pack in this position, or the gaffed card can ately examined. start on the bottom of the deck, where you cut PRE-LILNG - The “gaff” needed is a piece —_—_—the gaffed card to the center. of coathanger two and three-quarters of an inch long. This is @ quarter of an inch longer than the width of a poker-sized card. You'd need a shorter gimmick if using bridge-sized cards. You also need a normal coathanger that matches the hanger you cut the gaff from and pen. 153Paul Haris The Art of As STEP TWO - Get a left littlefinger break underneath the gaffed card, This is easy because of the slight thickness of the gaff rais- ing the card's left side up a bit. Do a Riffle Force by riffling the outer left comer of the pack with your left thumb, until a spectator says “stop,” Time this so she stops you some- where near the center of the deck. Bring the right hand over the top of the deck, getting into a Biddle position (see the right hand in FIG. 3). The right hand picks up all of the cards above the break. The gaffed card is at the bot. tom of the righthand’s half-pack, so make sure the right fingers conceal the protruding part of the gaff, See FIG. 3. STEP TLREE - The next move, which shows the “freely” selected card and puts it into position to be signed, takes maybe a sec- ond and is one fluid motion, but Il describe it in three easy and separate steps. The right- hand half-pack is still held as in FIG. 3. First the half-pack’s inner end is turned upward. so the face of the gaffed card is toward you (FIG. 4 a front view). Second, move your thumb down so it covers the gaff as shown in FIG. 5 a rear view. Third, continue turning the half pack over until you are in the position shown in FIG, 6 ~ a front view. This openly displays the selected card and allows it to be easily signed. Remember, this is one fluid action. 154Paul Harris The Art af Astonishmene STEP FOUR - Reverse the action just described above, turing the righthand halt- pack face down on top of the left-hand half pack, placing the entire deck and the gaffed card back in your starting position of FIG. 2 Place the hanger over the deck (FIG. 7). Note that the hanger is in between the second and third fingers, at the right side of the deck. Take all of the cards above the gaffed card and place them on top of the hanger (FIG. 8). Keep the left-hand’s halt-pack tilted upwards during this cut so the gaff is not flashed. Also note the new position of the left thumb which is on top of the hanger, rather than below it STEP FIVE - In this position both the gaff and the hanger are protruding out of the cen- ter of the deck to the right in between your left second and third fingers. Your right first and second fingers and thumb reach between your left second and third fingers, grabbing the pro- truding part of the gaff and the part of the hanger that the gaff is lying against (FIG, 9 the left fingers are removed for clarity). The left second and thitd fingers spread a bit. making room for the right hand: 155 STEP SKK - Your left hand revolves the deck so its toward the spectators. Your left first and second fingers are moved a bit away from the deck. allowing the right hand to raise the hanger and the gaffed card upwards as shown in FIG. 10, Move your left hand with the deck away placing the deck on the table and clearly display that Voilal - you have impaled a select- ed card through a coathanger! STEP SEVEN - Make sure you have a tight grip on the gaff against the hanger, and that your right forefinger and thumb are right against the side of the card. Your left hand can wiggle the card a bit, proving its impalement further, but be careful not to nudge the gaff.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment Bring your left hand over the card as shown STEP EIGHT - Your left thumb and fingers in FIG. 11, With the left hand, stide the card slowly tear the card off the gaff, while the left along the “hanger” (actually the gaff) bit by bit thumb and fingers slide the gaff into the right to your left, until the card is almost off the gaff, hand. The left hand places the card on the You must move your right hand, also to the table, and the right hand places the hanger on left, keeping it over the gaff and card, rather the table. The gaff hidden in the right hand is than against them. as it wes when displaying dumped while replacing the pen back into your the impalement. The view from the front is pocket shown in FIG. 12 156Paul Harris The Art of As ishment FREE LUNCH STEP ONE - You need to have a cocktail hot dog palmed in your right hand. A piece of bubble gum or tofu sculpted to the shape of a little hot dog can be substituted if you're des- perate, You should never be that desperate, STEP TW - Show someone the classic floating-sausage optical illusion. Have the spec: tator hold her two forefingers in front of her face as shown in the illustration, we ae) & wt z ‘When in the right position @ person will see a sausage-shaped something-orother floating in between her fingers. (It helps if the person's eyes are focused on something far away, not the fingers.) Ifthe spectator says she isn't seeing it. she Just isn't holding her hands properly or looking properly, Have her touch the ends of her fore- fingers and have her hold them very close to her eyes. Tell her to slowly move her fingers away from her eyes, and to separate the fin- gers a tiny bit, until she sees something in between her fingers. Most people will get the illusion of the float ing sausage. If you run into someone who doesn't see it, well ~ that's the breaks STEP THREE. - When the spectator con firms that she does see the sausage, your right hand reaches up and lightly grabs the ends of her two fingers. The tips of both her fingers should be held inside your fist. Move your hand down a bit, loosen up your fist so the spectator can remove her fingers - and imme- diately display the free lunchPaul Harris The ACLOSE-UP SEDUCTIONS (1984) Originally published by D, RobbinsPaul Harts The Art of Astor 160Paul Hanis The Art of Astonishment DIARY OF APL. VIDEO CHuUcK MARTINEZ QVITH A LITTLE HELP FROM PL) DIRECTOR. OF THE CLOSE-UP CLASSICS OF PL. 6:00 a.m. - wake Paul. He looks at the “six” on his clock and shouts, "Nooo0000!"” | learned that Paul has never actually seen six a.m. in person. 6:10 a.m. - Paul gets into his performing costume: a pair of jeans and an old sweater. Paul is concerned that he is over-dressed 6:14 a.m. - We drive to a 7-11 to purchase Paul's props - one deck of cards. The clerk asks Paul if he wants anything else. Paul says, “Just your respect.” The clerk doesn't get it 6:30 a.m. - We arrive at the set. Paul puts on his performing personality, and literally glows with close-up charisma. The prop girl says, “Wow, what a guy.” | marvel at Paul's abil- ity to get into character so effortlessly, 6:31 a.m. ~ Paul is bumed out. He wants to go home. 6:32 a.m. - Ready for the first shot. I'm desperate to get Paul back up to performing speed. The prop girl lifts her T-shirt and flashes Paul. His energy is back. | give the prop girl five dollars. 6:35 a.m. - | direct Paul to look at the camera, keep the cards in frame, stay in his light, and be natural. Paul laughs himself silly. | give the prop girl another five dollars, 7:30 a.m. - Paul sets the cards for the opening "Flap-Jacks” sequence ~ where four cards are supposed to spring off the case, one at a time, in sequence - like opening flower petals. It works perfectly on the first try. The crew is amazed. Paul is astounded. 7:45 a.m. - Paul performs Las Vegas Split, Interlaced Vanish, and Reset as one long rou- tine. He isn’t happy with his performance and does the sequence over again - three more times. We look at the video playback. All four takes are perfect. Paul stil isn’t happy. The prop girl comes over and gives Paul a hug. Now Paul's happy. 12:01 p.m. ~ Paul has taken to prefacing everything with a “Mister” - as in “Mister Camera,” “Mister Microphone,” “Mister Deck,” etc. Paul borrows “Mrs. Hand” from the prop girl to help explain “Mister Misdirection.” Everyone falls apart. You had to be there. 1:05 p.m. — Paul performs “Limo Service.” The cameraman, an amateur magician, is so amazed that he blows the shot. Paul is amazed that the cameraman is amazed. 1:10 p.m. - Paul performs “Limo Service" again. The cameraman is amazed again. Paul decides to put “Limo Service” on his “A’ list 1:30 p.m. - We set up for “Screenplay.” a bizarre mental effect using a TV screen and some optically-altered movie footage. The effect is completely self-working. A dead person could do this trick. 161Poul Harris The Art of Astonishment 1:32 p.m. - “Screenplay’/Take One - Paul trips over the TV cord and pulls the plug. 1:40 p.m, - “Screenplay” /Take Two - The microphone’s battery pack, tucked into Paul's waistband, drops into Paul's pants. 1:50 p.m. - “Screenplay” /Take Three - The battery pack drops down Paul's pants again. 2:00 p.m. - “Screenplay’/Take Four - Everything's going fine - and then Paul sneezes. 2:05 p.m. - “Screenplay” /Take Five - Paul is perfect - but | blow a cue. 2:17 p.m, ~ “Screenplay’/Take Six - "Mrs. Battery pack slides down Mister Pants.” Paul and | fall down laughing. Paul splits his pants. The prop girl gives Paul five dollars. 1:02 a.m, - We'll be finished any day now 162Paul Haris The Art of Astonishme or when you want to travel in style - complete with tinted windows, and a spiffy chauffeur with a funny hat. Four Jacks are squiggled” at your fingertips and change into four other cards. This "squiggle misdirection’ enables you to secretly escort the four Jacks into the box - of so the pedestrian audience is driven to believe, This was originally designed as a flashy extension to “Reset.” (see Index) ROAD CLIECK - You'll need to load a card into the box before you begin. Take any card (except a Jack or an Ace) and put it face up in the card box (FIG. 1). The half-moon cutout on the box faces up, the loosely folded-over flap hides the face-up card in the case, Put the case aside to your right. LIMQ SERVICE. STEP ONE - Pull out the Jacks and Aces from the deck. Arrange the cards so the Jacks are in Red, Red, Black, Black order from the face - and the Aces are in Black. Black, Red, Red order from the face (FIG. 2 This is also the final display from Re-set) STEP TWa - Announce an open demon. stration of the art of misdirection. Scoop up all eight face-up cards with your right hand, so the Aces are on top of the Jacks. Hold the packet from above by its ends in your right fin- gers. Pick up the rest of the face-up deck in left-hand dealing position. 163Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP THREE - Your left thumb slides the first Ace off the right-hand packet onto the deck. Catch a left lttlevinger break under the ‘Ace as it lands on the deck. Continue to count the Aces off one by one while holding the break. As your thumb pulls the fourth Ace off of the packet, steal the three Aces above the break under the right-hand cards (FIG. 3). Table the deck face up. REALITY CLIECK - The audience believes you have counted all four Aces onto the face of the deck. Actually anly one Ace is on the deck. ‘The rest ate hidden under the Jacks in your right hand. STEP FOUR - Count the Jacks one at a time into your left hand by sliding them off with your left thumb, When you've counted three your right fingers will be holding a packet of cards (three Aces under the last Jack) as if ‘they were one card. Obtain a right thumb break as you place the three Jacks underneath, this packet STEP FIVE. - Reach over with your right hand (the cards just “happen* to be there) and pick up the case so that the bottom three Jacks go square onto the case. Carry the case ‘over to the left, and put it in mechanics grip in your left hand, Turn your left hand palm down with the case, secretly taking the three “bro- ken” Jacks underneath (FIG. 4) Turn the four cards in your right hand face down and fan them out (also FIG. 4), These two actions hap- pen simultaneously as you comment that you are going to sneak the Jacks into the card case using misdirection 164 STEP SIX - Carefully table the card case to the left so i's three hidden Jacks remain con cealed underneath. Point to the Ace on the face of the deck and say the Aces will provide the distraction, Your left fingers turn the tabled dock face down, STEP SCVEN - Square the righthand fan and take the packet face down in left-hand dealing position. Flash the Jack at the face of ‘the packet then openly spread the four face- down cards between your hands. Your right fin: gers openly slide the top and third card to the right (FIG. 5). Do the “Squiggle Flourish’ by spreading the two sets of interlaced cards back and forth against each other. (Both thumbs and forefingers side their two cards back and forth so the four cards weave in and out of each other as in FIG, 6). Put the right-hand cards under the left-hand cards.Paul Haris The Art of Astonishment STEP LIGHT - Flip the four cards face up to show an Ace and do the Eimsley Count to show that the Jacks have turned into four ‘Aces. Flip these cards face down and drop them onto the tabled deck STEP NINE ~ Pick up the tabled card box with your left hand - keeping the cards hidden underneath. Use your right fingers to lift the flap up. revealing a flash of the card inside (apparently the four Jacks). Shake the case a litle so the card slides out an inch or so (FIG 7), Pinch all of the cards (the one in the box and the three underneath) together with your right thumb and fingers and slide them from the case to create the illusion that all of the cards come from inside the case 165 STEP TEN - Drop the case to the table and turn the packet face up onto your left hand. Use your right hand to take the face-up Jack from the packet and drop it face down on the deck, Without pausing, take the second Jack and drop it face dawn on the deck with- ‘out a break in the rhythm, your left thumb flips the remaining two cards face down as your Tight fingers take the top card (the indifferent one) off of the packet and drop it face down on the deck ‘As this card is still dropping your left fingors flash the face of the remaining card where your right fingers toss it face down onto the deck to finish. Once you find your rythym. this Hammanesque bluff silently rolls by like a fresh- 'y lubed limo. PubotNoTe - | alway use this final bluff display of the Jacks. But if is not your style you can fudge Your way around it by loading @ face card into the case. Then when you remove the four cards from the box you can simply fan them face up to show four Jacks, taking care to cover most of the non-Jack card at the back with the Jack above itPoul Harris The Art of Ast 166Paul Haris The Art of As SEDUCTIVE SWITCH LE SEDUCTION - The audience's percep STEP FIVE - Grasp the card from below by tion of a losing Blackjack hand held by a its sides between your left thumb and fingers. spectator is so completely altered that you can —_Fold the face-down card in half by squeezing transform it into a winner ~ by simply being your left thumb and fingers together. The yourselt, pinched inner-right corner remains stuck out towards you. separate from the folded card STEP ONC ~ Set up three cards on the This stuck-out corner is naturally hidden from the audience by your right fingers and the fold: deck from the top down, Six, Ace, Jack if ed card (FIGS. 2.3) STEP TWO - Doubletift to show the Ace then turn the double down onto the deck. STEP THREE - Slide the top single card (the Six) off of the deck by pinching it at its inner- left corner between your right first finger on top, and right thumb from below. Your left hand tables the deck face down in front of you STEP FOUR - Hold the card so that its face is toward the table. The corner pinched between your right thumb and first finger is now at the inner right (FIG. 1). 167Paul Harris The Art of Astonishment STEP Six - Keep your right thumb pressed STEP CIGUT - Grasp the folded card against the face of the stuck-out left comer between your left fingers and thumb (FIG. 7) while your right fingers move over onto the audience side of the card (FIG. 4). Squeeze your right thumb and fingers together to oper: ly flatten the center crease while your right thumb secretly bends the stuck-out corner up against the folded card. Use your left fingers to openly flatten the rest of the center crease while your right thumb secretly flattens the crease of the face-up index corner. STEP NINE - Your right fingertips slide the tabled deck’s top two cards over the left side of the deck, When the two cards are extending to the left, remove the two cards as one unit from the deck by pinching them at their inner ends between your right thumb from below, fingers on top (FIGS. 8), = STEP SEVEN - Openiy fold the folded card in half once more by folding the left end ‘out front onto the right end (FIG. 5). The hid- den bent index corner stays in position at the back of the folded card (FIG. 6} 168Paul Harris The Art of Ast STEP TEN - The two face-down cards pinched together at their inner ends between your right thumb and first finger should now be in a spread condition, with the top card extending to the left about half of an inch. Tit the faces of the pair (Ace/Jack) toward your- self so that your right thumb and the first fin- ger are at the top end of the cards. STEP ELEVEN - Keep the right hand steady as your left fingers openly place the folded card against the back of the pair. Undercover of this action allow the upper index corner of the Ace to slip into the “pocket” directly in front of the secret bent comer (FIG. 9). The upper index corner of the Jack goes conto the right side of the bent index comer. A fow minor adjustments by your right thumb and fingers will make things appear exactly as though the pair held next to the folded card consists of a Jack and a Six. Look at this for a few moments and think nice thoughts about me (FIGS. 10,11). nishment STEP TWELVE — Tur your left hand palm up to share this situation with your audi- ence so that they can think nice things about you. STEP TUITEEN- Ever so slowly turn the cards face down and direct a spectator to hold the Jack/Six pair at her fingertips. Retain your grip on the folded card — where the secret bent comer is now hidden at the bottom (FIG. 12), STEP FOURTEEN — Transfer the folded card to your right fingers by placing your right fingers on top of the folded card, while your left thumb slides between the outside card and the bent comer. As your right fingers take the folded card. move your right thumb and fingers down slightly to secretly unbend the bent cor- nner (FIGS. 13.14)Paul Haris The Art STEP FIFTEEN - Grasp the folded card from below between your left thumb at the inner left comer and your left second fingertip at the diagonally opposite upper right comer (FIG. 15}, Openiy press the tip of your right first finger down onto the center of the folded card, so that your left thumb and second finger can easily bend the card up in half. This bending action is openly performed as a magical ges- ture. Its purpose is to camouflage the secrat bend's crease (FIG. 16) STEP SXTEEN - Casually toss the folded card onto the table and direct your spectator’s attention to the pair in her hand that she reli giously believes to be a bad hand of sixteen. After a moment's hesitation the lucky lady will discover a perfect hand of twenty-one. A moment later shell discover the seductively folded six! of Astonishment OFFICIAL NOTE. OF APPRECIATION - For Looy! My original Blackjack fake required a torn card. | told Looy | was unhappy with this and would be able to live a more carefree life if there were a way to create the fake by bending it or something. Looy said, “Oh,” took my card, and bent it PRESENTATION - STEP ONE - “Boy, are you in for a treat Today's the day you're going to learn how to make big bucks at Blackjack. The secret is to get hold of one af these when no one’s look- ing” Double lift Ace and take single into left hand. STEP TWO - “You have to make it real small 50 no one will see it Fold the card and get it “set STEP THREE - “Now I'l take a sample Blackjack hand...sixteen..bummer. That's a bad hand. Boy, it's a good thing | had the foresight to obtain a spare Ace.” Position the top two cards from the deck into the fold and display the bad hand of six: teen STEP FOUR - “I need my fingers free to make the secret move. Would you be kind enough to hold my hand..no, | mean the bad hand of sixteen ~ but thank you anyway. Hold the hand between your fingers just like this so that | know you're not doing anything to the cards that you wouldn't do to me Tum the Jack Six pair facedown extra slow as the spectator moves her hand to take the cards. STEP FIVE - "Now that I have you to help ime it's a simple matter to quickly unfold the ‘Ace (squeeze the packet) iron out the wrinkles = using @ miniature iron | keep up my sleeve sneak the Ace into your hand. sneak out the Six, and fold up the Six so that it's easy to hide. And in my spare time | run out and grab a pizza. You seem skeptical. We really did it Take a look.