one-handed shuffle

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MitsuMatsu
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one-handed shuffle

Postby MitsuMatsu » September 23rd, 2013, 11:27 pm

Does anyone know who first deviesd (or performed) one-hand riffle shuffle, and where it was recorded? Thanks in advance.
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Philippe Billot
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Philippe Billot » September 24th, 2013, 2:31 am

See Hugard Magic Monthly, Vol. 3, No. 7, december 1945, page 175

Bill Mullins
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Bill Mullins » September 24th, 2013, 3:05 am

Cliff Green was doing one-handed shuffles as part of his vaudeville act, in the 1920s-1930s.

Edwin Corrie
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Edwin Corrie » September 24th, 2013, 3:26 am

The article in Hugard's Magic Monthly describes two one-handed shuffles - the One-Handed Riffle and the One-Handed Overhand Shuffle. They are credited to Howard de Courcy, though he didn't claim originality.

"A now-ubiquitous one-handed riffle shuffle and bridge procedure, meanwhile, was published in HMM as part of a special section on the flourishes of British magician Howard de Courcy. Looking back on it today, one can’t help but chuckle at the description of de Courcy’s shuffles as “the very last word in card flourishes."
http://conjuringarts.org/2013/06/hugards-magic-monthly-at-70/

From an article by John Derris about Hugh Scott (one of the group that included Alex Elmsley, Roy Walton, Jack Avis and John Derris):
"He told us of many stories of meetings he had with professional magicians Howard de Courcy, Tommy Martin, Billy O’Connor and Ade Duval after seeing their performances at the local variety theatre and was shown many of their pet moves once they had witnessed his skill. It was Howard de Courcy who taught him the one handed riffle shuffle, largely unknown at that time, which he practised throughout the night until he acquired the knack. De Courcy told him that he had first seen the shuffle in continental Europe and later, when showing it to a U.S. Army Colonel, the officer asked De Courcy to teach him the shuffle. In that time of rationing, clothing coupons and short supplies, he offered tuition in exchange for a U.S. Officer’s trench coat. De Courcy got his coat and never saw the officer again."
http://magicderris.com/magic-miscellanea/whos-hugh/

A bit more on Howard de Courcy: http://www.geniimagazine.com/magicpedia/Howard_de_Courcy

Also some video clips of him:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/howard-de-courcy
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/howard-de-courcy-on-sleeve-as-howarde-de-courcy
http://flashback.pseudotube.com/howard_de_courcey...._X160030.html


P.S. Just found this as well:
http://forums.geniimagazine.com/viewtopic.php?t=10722

Philippe Billot
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Philippe Billot » September 24th, 2013, 5:57 am

In Potter's Index, there is apparently a one hand shuffle in The Card Expert (1938) by Lynn Searles, page 28.

As I haven't this book, I can't garantee if it's a real one hand shuffle or a one hand multiple cut. Who can check ?

MitsuMatsu
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby MitsuMatsu » September 24th, 2013, 7:48 am

To all,

Thank you for telling various theories and information on the inventor of the one hand riffle shuffle.
I understand that Howard de Courcy is one of early magicians who demonstrated the feat.

MitsuMatsu

Bill Mullins
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Bill Mullins » September 24th, 2013, 9:04 am

Seattle Washington Daily Times p 5
"Cliff Green measures well up among the better features of the bill with his amusing chatter and his skilled performance with cards and coins. His shuffling of a deck of cards with one hand is an interesting accomplishment."

"Under the Tonto Rim" is a 1928 silent movie based on a Zane Grey novel of the same name. The film has as a plot element a man who can shuffle one-handed. I wonder if the film has footage of someone doing the shuffle.

John Fisher's book on Cardini has him doing on-handed shuffles in Australia in the 1920s.

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 24th, 2013, 12:25 pm

Cliff Green developed his one-hand shuffle with no inspiration other than seeing someone roll a cigarette with one hand in a silent film. Green was working vaudeville in the earliest part of the 20th century and featured the shuffle, as well as the Interlocked Production of Cards. He invented both items

However, one must not automatically assume it was a riffle shuffle! I have found what I believe to be Green's method ripped off by Hugard with no credit (all too common) in an early Card Manipulations booklet. It is what we would consider a one-hand Overhand Shuffle.
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Bill Mullins » September 24th, 2013, 1:02 pm

To my way of thinking, the most common one-handed shuffle is more of a faro than a riffle. See this one -- the weave is like that of a faro shuffle (although the uploader mistakenly calls it a riffle shuffle.)

This one, on the other hand, is truly a riffle shuffle.

Which are you interested in?

Unfortunately, most of the early mentions of one-handed shuffles don't contain enough detail to know if they are riffles, faros, or others.

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Eoin O'hare
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Eoin O'hare » September 24th, 2013, 1:43 pm

Bill Mullins wrote:This one, on the other hand, is truly a riffle shuffle.


This looks like a faro to me... made to look like a riffle.
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Bill Mullins
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Bill Mullins » September 24th, 2013, 1:58 pm

Eoin is right, I should have paid better attention. But that is what the one-handed riffle should look like, more or less.

This 1898 book has a passage about one handed shuffling from the War Between the States, probably 1863 or soon after:

Thomas Strother had his left hand shot off at the forearm by a cannon. The next day, his stump was amputated with only a glass of whisky for anesthetic. "They raised him up and gave him a tumbler full, laid him down and commenced cutting and sawing. Tom kept his eyes on them and never moved a muscle. After he was bandaged and raised up, he was told they were through with him. He stepped off some distance where some of the boys were playing poker, and asked for the deck to see if he could shuffle with one hand."

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Richard Kaufman
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Richard Kaufman » September 24th, 2013, 2:06 pm

Bill, it doesn't say he could actually do a one-hand shuffle, just that he was interested to see if he could do it, which was unlikely.
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Bill Mullins
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Bill Mullins » September 24th, 2013, 2:43 pm

Richard, the man watched his arm get cut off with only a glass of whisky, then went off to play cards. I think that if he wanted to do a one-hand shuffle, he could do a one-hand shuffle.

You've mentioned Larry Jennings having "big brass ones"; LJ was a Pee-Wee Herman compared to Tom Strother.

Edwin Corrie
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Re: one-handed shuffle

Postby Edwin Corrie » September 26th, 2013, 3:22 am

Richard Kaufman wrote:However, one must not automatically assume it was a riffle shuffle! I have found what I believe to be Green's method ripped off by Hugard with no credit (all too common) in an early Card Manipulations booklet. It is what we would consider a one-hand Overhand Shuffle.


The one-handed shuffles in "Card Manipulations 4" http://magicref.tripod.com/books/hugardcardman1-5.htm are really more like multiple cuts, whereas the one in Hugard's Magic Monthly actually mimics the actions of an overhand shuffle. The only other place I recall seeing the one-handed overhand shuffle is in Jerry Cestkowski's "Encyclopedia of Playing Card Flourishes" (http://www.flourishman.com/Encyclopedia.htm; he also refers to the "shuffles" in "Card Manipulations" and calls them multiple cuts). Nowadays there are lots of one-handed multiple cuts around, but perhaps back then any kind of complex mixing procedure was thought of as a shuffle, and as Bill said the early mentions of one-handed shuffles are not very specific.


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