STEVE BEAM'S e/a i ee ee Oe EdCUTTING CLASS Steve Beam Okay, so ithas been long enough since you have had to wade through one of my effects. I'm sorry but the vacation is over. This is a quick four- of-a-kind production, with anice sucker starttoit. It is over in seconds, but the build-up adds a little length. This is a great opener to any trick using the four aces. It’s also performed entirely in the hands. Effect and Routine. “People are always asking me what it takes to become a magician. The answer is simple. You have to go to magicians’ school. Andone of the hardest classes isCardTricks 454. The reason itis so tough is because of the final exam. Iwould like to re-create what happened tome during my final exam. You'll have to watch closely, it only takes a second. For the final exam, the heat was on. Literally, my professor turned the heat on So that my cards stuck together. He sent me to the front of the class and handed me an old, sticky, worn-out deck of cards... kind of like this one that you loaned me... thanks. He toldme that he was going tocounttofour. As he gave each count, he wanted me to find an ace. That is, atthe count of one, I was to produce the first ace. Atthe countof two, the second ace. Atthe count of three, the ‘um... uh... that’s right... the third ace. Give me a break, this wasn't math class. At the count of four, the fourth ace. No room for error. Four beats, four aces. If I missed one ace, I was toast! This was one of the most difficult effects inall of card magic. So difficult in fact, that if 1 was successful, I knew the rest of the class would burst into applause. So, here is what my final exam looked like. Would someone turn the heat up? Here goes! Youmay wishto count slowly with me”. ‘The magician dramatically starts his count. “One.” Atthiscount, the firstace makes its appearance. “Two.” At this, a two appears instead of the second ace. “Whoops.” The magician pauses for the audience to appreciate his predicament. “Ir just got even hotter..." Another second, and the magician finishes with a one-two punch, Make thata three-four punch. In the time it takes the magician to say “3-4” quickly, the two vanishes and is replaced by the other three aces. “passed!” (Try to resist the urge to actually ‘execute a pass as you deliver the last line.) ‘The Work. Start with the top five cards of the pack arranged in the following order from the top down: two face down aces, two face up aces, and a face down deuce. Hold the deck in the left hand and obtain a break under the fifth card from the top. With a back and forth movement of the pack, use your left forefinger to flip the top ace over the front edge of the pack and onto the face of the pack as shown infigure 1. This is the first ace. Bring yourrighthand over tothe pack and take possession of the four cards above the break. You are now going todo three things atonce. As youslide the cards above the break out to the right, your left thumb CONTENTS -- TRAPDOOR #59 Cutting Class -- Steve Beam Passing Gear — Tony Biscardt The Amazing Ten Card Trick -- Jim Krenz ‘The Aaron Fisher wn-Lee-Asher Insert The Smokeless Shijt -- Aaron Fisher The Joint Shift -- Aaron Fisher Twist If You Got 'Em -- Aaron Fisher Recoil -- Aaron Fisher COPYRIGHT 1996 BY STEVEN L. BEAM ‘The Lee Asher Bertor-Than-A aron-Fisher Insert The Asher Flasher — Lee Asher Under The Influence Change -~ Lee Asher Bending Over Backwards ~- Lee Asher ‘The Buzz - Lee Asher Four Casting -- Lee Asher Subscriptions / Leftovers ae eee eee 1126retains the top card of the four flush with the pack. See figure 2. In order to keep from flashing the reversed cards which are now face up in the right fhand, necktie the pack and the packet as you rotate your right hand palm up to display its three cards as one with the deuce showing. Seefigure 3. Pause at this point so that the audience appreciates your problem. At the count of two, you have produced a ‘two rather than an ace. If they don’t understand this, the rest of the production plummets in effectiveness. ‘When you are ready to finish, bring your palm up right hand over to the left so that you can clip the top card of the pack between the right third and fourth fingers as shown in figure 4 As soon as you have possession of that card, rotate your right hand palm down. This will flip the card between yourright third and fourth fingers face up. Without pausing, use your left thumb to pull the top card of the three-card packet onto the top of the ack revealing the second, third, and fourth aces simultaneously tothe quick count of 3-4. The pacing isimportanthere. Itis,“I..2...Whoops...It's getting hotter inhere...3-4.” Itlooks like the deuce explodes imo the other three aces and the deuce is history. It isincredibly visual and magical. Reassemble by pushing the aceon top slightly totheright. This allows you to slide the double card that's between your right thumb and second finger under the top card. Place the other two aces on top. ‘You have now quickly added the face down deuce to the top of the pack beneath the aces. “Know what I gotinthe course?” Pause fora response. Point tothe top face up ace. “Why an ‘A’ of course. I aced the final.” Leftovers. Iuse this as an opener to another 4127acetrick. "The professor said! could getextracredit fl could cutto the four aces again, but this time I had 10 cut them two at a time.” 1 then go into my King Charlier from Magic, The Vanishing Art or How to Turn a Trick For Fun & Profit (1979-out of print) and reprinted this year in Vienna Notes. PASSING GEAR Tony Biscardi Tony lives in Thunder Bay, Canade. He showed me this move after my lecture there. Even paying attention, it’s a stunner. Ihave to admit, this is a move in search of a trick. It is a natural for transpositions (see my idea in Leftovers). However, if youalready do the LePaul spread pass, you will find that you can be doing this in minutes. ‘The Work. Start with the ace of spades on top of the pack. Hold the deck face down in the left hand and spread the cards into the right hand. Split thepack in the middle. Use the right spread to flip the top card of the left half face up. This will be the spectator’s selection, Flip it face down again. Bring the right-hand packet over the left executing the LePaul spread pass as explained inThe Card Magic of LePaul. However, in the process, your right thumb remains in contact with the back of the ace of spades. ‘Soas the original top halfis transferred from the right thumb to the left, the ace of spades remains in the possession of the right thumb. As the left hand é takes full possession of the original top half, the ace is dragged onto the face of the original bottom half, facing the opposite way. See figure 1. Now simply complete the pass by squaring the right hand’s cards on top of the left. Multiple Reverse. Modifying the technique slightly, youcan achieve a multiple reverse with little additional effort. Start with four aces on top of the pack. As before, hold the pack in the left hand in dealing position. Spread the cards from the lefthand into the right. When you have spread the top four cards, square them together into the right thumb crotch. When the four cards are square, clip them between the middle of the rightthumb and the base of the right forefinger. Now perform the pass as described above. Rather than dragging the original top card of the pack into the center, the four clipped cards move there automatically and as a unit, The restof the move isidentical to the single cardreverse. Leftovers. Here’s a quick use for the single card reverse. Idon’t have any routine for it so Tam using right now as a toy to show other magicians. Ask the spectator for his favorite card. Cut that cand to the face of the pack. Now spread through the pack face up and splitit about in the middle. Call the card on the face of the eft half your favorite card, Execute the move, but hold the cards upward slightly so the audience can’tseethat your favorite card has jumped to the face of the pack. As you execute the move, look the spectator in the eyes saying that you'll leave your favorite card in the middle. “However, if riffle the pack (lower it so the audience can see the face card of the pack at the end of the riffle) my card jumps to the top of the pack. 1 wonder where Your card is.” Spread through the pack and show that there is one reversed card in the middle, It is the spectator’s card. —— | THE AMAZING TEN CARD TRICK Jim Krenz This is Jim’s version of Edward Victor's classic Eleven Card Trick. Jim was also inspired by Derek Dingle’s Fabulous Jumping Card Trick. In effect, the magician states thathe is going to perform 1128 -atrick using ten cards. Unfortunately (or fortunately for the magician who needs a good routine) a card keeps magically disappearing from the magician’s hands. ‘The Work. Start with the deck face down on the table. Cut off about a third of the pack and take them in position for the mechanic’s grip Elmsley ‘count as shown infigure 1. Use your right thumb to pullcardsinto yourrighthand. You will finditeasier to pull one card at a time by dragging the cards by their upperright comer. Try alight pressure with the right thumb rather than a heavy one. Also, as you count the cards during the routine, you will do it in groups of three. That is, the count will run, “1-2-3, 4-5-6, 7-89." Pull the top three cards, one ata time, into the palm up tight hand in mechanic’s grip. Count the cards “1-2-3.” As you bring your right thumb back over to the left-hand packet, steal back the first three cards under the packet on the count of “four.” Finish this three-count pulling five and six onto the first card. Take three more cards to the count of “7-8-9”, “And one makes ten.” Take one more card making thetenth. Youactually have sevencardsin yourright hand. Drop the cards which remain in yourleft hand on top of the tabled packet leaving you with just the seven cards, Count#1. Pay close attention to the details ‘They make the ick incredibly convincing toboth the eyes and minds of the audience. Hold the packet as shown in figure 1. Pull the first card over isto the right hand with your right thumb to the count of one, AS you take the second card on top of the first, add the first card back to the bottom of the left packet on the count of two. Take the third card outjogged about a quarter of an inch on top of the second one. Rotate your right hand palm down and drop the two cards as three, face up onto the table. The fact that they are jogged will cause two cards to be cleanly in view. (This is to prevent the two cards staying together looking like one instead of three.) Repeat the same actions for 4-5-6, adding back the fourth card to the bottom of the packet. Rotate the right han palm up and drop these “three” cardsonto the first“three” on the table. Take thenext ‘card between your thumb and fingers and pretend to try and separate it from any other that might be with it. This is the same“wringing” action you would use toseparate new dollarbills. Drop this card face upon top of the table packet to the count of “seven.” Repeat this individual attention with the last two cards, ending with apparently nine cards face up on the table, “Tmsorry. 1 need ten cards for this trick. 1 ‘must have counted wrong the first time.” Take one card from the tabled pack, turn it face up, and drop it fece up ontop of the packet you just counted. As you pick up the packet and take it in position for the count, “Nine plus one is ten and I need ten cards for the trick.” ‘Count #2. Countthe cardsinto therighthand in three card runs again. This time, you only have to pull back one card which is done on the second triplet atthe count of five. Onceagain, you apparently have nine cards. If you wish, on the first triplet, you can have each card outjogged slightly beyond its predecessor so that they see three cards clearly on the table whea you drop this group. “I must have miscounted.” Take another card from the pack and drop itomto the face up pile. “Nine plusoneistenand I need ten cards for the trick.” Count #3. This time you actually have nine cards. Countthe cardsin groups of three reproducing, the actions used in the false counts. This count may appear slightly more open if the audience is really buming your hands. Once again, they see three groups of three. Count #4, “I seem to be having a problem counting the cards. Would you count them for me.” Hand the cards to the spectator for him to deal-count them onto the table revealing nine cards once again. a —— 1129Although you do nothing here, you will get yet another laugh at the end of the count because the audience doesn’t know what to expect. When the spectator counts nine cards, the magicianis apparently still having a problem. Jim credits this “no-brainer” to Derek Dingle. Count #5. “Well perhaps adding one card isn'tthe answer. I’ Iladd one-two-three cards to the nine, giving a total of twelve.” Take three cards from the pack and drop them onto the packet just counted by the spectator. “Now if subtract two cards from the nwelve, that gives us... (spectator answers, ‘ten’) Just what T need to do the trick.” Take two cards away from the pile and put them back on the deck. Pick up the packet in counting position, The fact that the spectator performs the math at this pointcements the number of cards that are in the packet he just counted. Itis a strong selling point. Not only that, it has the added advantage of being the truth for a change. Count #6. You are now going to count the ten card packet as twelve. You will do the count in four groups of three, executing the add-back to the second and third triplets. ‘The fact that you now end up with twelve cards, which is the number you were trying to use to get to nine, is marvelous situation comedy. “Now wait a minute! That’ s two cards too many.” Take two cards away from the packet and replace them on the deck. “Hopefully that will leave ten cards.” ‘Count#7. You now have eight cards. Count the eight as nine in groups of three, doing the add- back on the count of five. ‘Count#8, When you finish the countshowing nine cards, act frustrated. Quickly grab one card from the deck and add itto the packet. “/t had better work this time. Otherwise I'm giving up the ten card trick.” Pick up the packet and count the nine cards a ten, doing the add-back on the count of five. For the first time, you've gotten itright. Act delighted. “That's exactly what we need.” Pick up the packet of nine cards and hand it to the spectator. “Deal five cards into each of my hands and we will cause the cards to magically change places.” If you think about it, this is a ridiculous statement since five unknown cards changing places with five other ‘unknown cards isn’t much of aneffect. But, you are never going to get to that point anyway. ‘The spectator will come up one card short. If youhaveany detivery atall forthistrick, the audience will burstintolaughteratthis point. Bring both hands together in a clapping action and place the wad of cards onto the table in total frustration. “Well it wasn’t much of a trick anyway!” Background. AS I stated earlier, this is Victor’ sElevenCardTrick using ten cards. Jimuses Derek Dingle’s presentation which is thoroughly described in The Complete Works of Derek Dingle underthetitle, “The Derek Dingle Fabulous Jumping Card Trick.” Jim has changed only the titie of the trick he keeps promising to perform to the “Jim Krenz Amazing Ten Card Trick.” Jim’ s changes are subtle but important. The change from ten cards which keep showing up to nine, gives the trick a rhythm, As Jim putsit, if the audience has been drinking, it’s easier to remember three groups of three. Jim’ shandling alsoallows for a simple, bum- the-hands false count which willallow youtoshowa gazillion cards if you want. The add-back is the standard move from the mechanics-grip Elmsley ‘count so you probably don’t have to learn any new moves. Just remember that the count is a “rhythm, thing.” If your pace is off, the count will not be convincing. You should be able to do it while you sleep, not whilethe audience naps, (While Tuse Jim's routine, Iam doingeverything described above except 1am doing it in Biddle position, 1 prefer Jim's handling, but I’m too old to switch to a mechanics- ‘grip Elmsley handling afterall these years.) Consult Derek’s presentation if you don’t have one of your ‘own and you will find a great plot made better by a wonderfully entertaining presentation. Upcoming This Year: Issue #60 is al- ready at the printers. It's a special one-man issue which will follow shortly. I hope to see some of you at the Winter Camival of Magic in Gatlinburg in March, FFFF in Buffalo in April, and the Florida State Magic Conven- tion in Ft. Lauderdale in May. ‘Those of you surfing the net will find me at sbeam@nando.net, on the WebPhone sav- ing long-distance charges, and lurking in IRC at US.Undernet.Org.The Aaron Fisher Better-Than-Lee-Asher Insert | ‘Aaron Fisher lives in Baltimore where he has been making his mark on the magic landscape for the last few years, A student of Jack Birnman, Aaron has started developing his own effects in the last few years. He has recently been featured in Genii, The Minotaur, Apocalypse, and Magic. ‘While better known for moves, lately he has been focusing his attention on creative presentations. Asa ‘matter of fact, Aaron says that he is real creative. He says that his material is much better than Lee Ashers, a decision I have made easy for you by placing their respective inserts in the same issue. If you like what follows, you will also want a copy of Aaron's excellent lecture notes which feature great magi clear illustrations, and a Beatles theme throughout which has to be seen to be appreciated. You can reach him at 14616 Brock Hall Drive, Upper Marlboro, MD 20772. SMOKELESS TURNOVER SHIFT Aaron Fisher I don't often publish moves without routines, However, I performa lot of four ace productions and therefore have lots of uses for 2 good multiple shift. ‘This one has several variations, each of them worthy of your consideration and work. I would goo faras to say that if Lee Asher were to come up with a multiple shift, it would not be as good or as utilitarian as this, I will start with the handling that sends the four aces to the bottom. If you do not read and 1131 understand the meckanics of this, the variations that follow (that send the aces to different locations) will be meaningless. Talso assume you are familiar with the Hermann or tumover pass. Effect. I guess the effect of the multiple shift isthat fouraces are placed into the middle of the pack. That's it-—-nothing magical as faras the audience is concerned. In reality, the aces are controlled to the top, bottom, or other desired location ‘The Work. Remove the four aces. Hold the rest of the pack face up in the left hand in dealing position. One by one, pick up the aces and distribute them through the outer end of the pack, leaving them ‘outjogged for half their length ‘Bring yourrighthand overdiagonally andtap the right edge of the outjogged aces so that they jos diagonally as shown in figure 1. To cover for this, action, immediately execute thumb fan toshow that, the aces are in different parts of the pack. Close the fan, leaving the aces jogged diagonally totheleft. (As an alternative, you might want to place them in crooked to begin with. Anything that puts them in this position naturally.) Note the straddle grip shown in the first illustration. The position of all fingers is important, but particularly the fact that the first and fourth fingers straddle the pack. Relaxing the left thumb’s tip, use the fingers to lift the pack up to the thumb 1p as shown in figure 2. I'm going to teach you the left hand’s action first. Use your left thumb, strip the aces up and farther out of the pack so that they their long edgesare parallel to the rest of of the pack as shown in figure 3. This is the key action of the move for the lefthand. Rock thecards back and forth between the positions shown in figures 2 and 3 toensure that you have a comfort level with what you are doing. Now I will describe the right hand’s action which provides cover for the left hane’s stripping action. Return your left hand to the position shown, in figure 2. Bring your right hand over the pack. Lift the cards above the uppermost outjoggedace between yourrightsecond fingerand thumb directly tothe left as shown in figure 4. This illustration shows a transparent view of the true condition of everything at this point, Note how the outjogged cards have = 1132lined up withthe packetabove them, Totheonlookers, the top packet of the deck will appear to be the entire deck. The right hand covers the fact that the bottom three fourths of the deck is now sidejogged. Grasp the outer ends of the aces in a straddle grip with your right fingers and push the outjogged cards flush with the top packet. You are guiding them in with your straddle grip to keep them moving asa unit. Figure 5 shows an exposed view of the deck with the right hand removed. You are now going to strip the deck away from the aces and top packet with a “telescopic action” created by the late Frank Thompson. Using the straddle grip, pull the lower part of the deck straight back Until itclears the left zear comer of the cards in the right hand (the aces and the top packet). See figure 6. As soon as the packets clear, you will finish with the Hermann Pass. That is, rotate the left long edge of the cards straddle-gripped in the left fingers upward so that the packet is held vertically as shown in figure 7, Move the left thumb undemeath the cards held by the righthand and pivot the left side of that packet up vertically as well. Combine the two halves in the act of turning the deck face down. (1 assume youare already familiar with the Hermann or turnover pass.) ‘ASA Placement Shift, Instead of using the top packet for cover, um the deck face down and you can use the top card alone. However, when you get to the point where you used the Hermann pass a ‘momentago, simply take the cards which are stradale~ gripped intheright fingers and slide them underneath the cards held by the righthand, This sends the four aces to a position directly underneath the top card of the pack. Goo) To-The-Bottom Alternative. Hold the deck face down and insert the four aces. Use the top packet as the cover. As soon as you have pushed the aces flush underneath the top packer, take everything, in therighthand fromabove. Completely release the left hand’s grip. Apparently you are holding a squared pack, Pause for some time misdirection, ‘Then use your right forefinger to swivel or kick cut the left-most cards (the aces beneath the top packer} into the palm-up lefthand, Slap the remaining cards down0on top of the packet completing acut. Theaces are on the bottom of the face down deck. Aaron credits Marlo for inspiring the conceptof what he was trying to accomplish. CaN Ie Aaron Fisher This is a neat concept for a multiple shift. Itin- volves switching a packet of four cards for the rest of the deck. If that sounds impossible, isn’t magic supposed to be impossible? Read on. (I will assume you read the Smokeless Multiple Shifton page 1131 and are familiar with the concepts explained within that description.) The Work. Hold an ace-less deck face down in your left hand in dealing position. You should be using a relatively new deck so that the cards stide easily across one another. Pick up the four aces and. place them into different parts of the pack one by one. Use any of the standard push-through moves which leaves them injogged about a quarter of their length at the rear of the pack. (See any book by Jer- ry Andrus, Expert Card Technique, etc.) Pause at this point as if you are finished. You have loss the aces. Lift the deck up to the first joinus of the fingers and thumb. The deck should be held vertically with the back (top) facing to the right. When ready to proceed on the downbeat, engage the right rear cor- ner of the injogged aces with your right thumb on the near short edge. Kick the aces to the left at the 1133 ~angle shown in figure 1. Use your right thumb to kick the aces through the deck toward the far right comer where they are engaged by the right fingers as shown in figure 2. Now use your right thumb as the fulcrum to pivot the front edges of the aces around to the left. ‘The thumb’s role is critical because it allows you to strip the cards further from the pack without bind- ing. The thumb pushes to the right against the pack while the fingers pull the front ends of the cards to the left as shown in figure 3. As soon as the cards are far enough to the left, the left first and fourth fin- gers can straddle the pack proper. The aces come into view, moving from a vertical to horizontal posi- tion . When the audience sees the four aces, they think they are looking at the top card of the pack. AS soon as the aces are stripped clear of the pack, use the left fingers to glide the straddle- gripped cards in underneath the aces using the Th- ompson telescopic action. Square the pack. The aces are now on top. Leftovers. Aaron refers to the reverse push- through action as the Aarongant Principle. (Of course I refer to it as the Beamer Principle and you can refer to it as the Paid-Up Trapdoor Subscriber (“PUTS" ) Principle.) He credits Ray Kosby and his Ray’ s Rise for the inspiration, Darren Martin for re- alizing that Ray’s moves could be done as a multiple switch, and Frank Thompson’s telescopic action for the finish. TWIST IF YOU GOT 'EM Aaron Fish Just when you thought you had seen your last aces twisted, up pops Mr. Fisher with his version. This is not the easiest method, but itis different and effective. The effect is the same as Vernon’s. One by one, four face down aces turn face up. And while it uses an Elmsley count, it is used only as a dis- placement. If you will learn how to get the second ace turned face up, all the rest follow suit (S0 to speak) in the same way. ‘The Work. Hold the four aces in a fan with the faces toward the audience and the fingers pointing to the ceiling. From the face, we will assume the aces, are in “CHaSeD” order. The right little finger rests on the index corer of the face of the ace of clubs and the right third finger is behind the fan. You are now going to execute Danny Tong's Fan Reverse from Issue #2 of Karl Fulves’ Epileg. (It was shown to Aaron by Gene Maze.) As you curl your right hand in to place the cards into the left hand, the cards tur end for end. During this process, you will reverse the ace of clubs, the bottom or face card of the fan, To accomplish this, apply pressure with the third finger to the back of the ace as you apply a 1134similar pressure to the face with the second finger. ‘When the faces of the cards are out of the specta- tors’ view, release your pressure with the fourth fin- ger. The card will flip over face up underneath the fan, Square the cards as shown in figure 1. The first ace now reversed. ‘The Second Ace. Perform a mechanics-grip Elmsley count into the left hand, upjogging the re- versed ace of clubs for half its length. ‘The count is used to change the order of the cards in the act of