Unexplainable Acts

[Ian Kendall]

Hello,

I was rereading the Gary Kurtz book this afternoon and thought someone might be interested in this thought about the routine Wishful Thinking...

When you are going to show the card on the bottom of the deck Gary does a variation of Cliff Green's Inperceptable Top to Bottom Palm (professional Card Magic, 1961). I found this to be a wee bit cumbersome, so I came up with this minor variation. Feel free to flame at will:

The deck is held in Mechanic's grip in your dominant hand (usually the left). The non-dominant hand comes across the body towards the opposite front corner

Aside for people who are confused by my decriptions; in most cases this would read as the deck is held in the left hand and the right hand comes over to take the deck by the outer left corner...

...As the non-dom hand comes in front of the deck it goes to grip the corner of the deck between the thumb and middle finger, thumb on top. Just before the fingers take the grip, however, the dom thumb pushes the top card over as if doing a strike second deal. This allows the nondom finger and thumb to grip all the cards except the top one.

Two actions now happen at once. The nondom hand draws the deck forward and upward until it is clear of the other hand. As if moves from under the top card the dom thumb presses _lightly_ on the top card so that it moves slightly down the hand until the front edge is level with the index finger. From here, as the hand with the deck moves slightly up and away, the dom thumb presses the card into Gambler's Cop, or as is more often the case, a high Steranko palm with the card clipped between the first and second, or only second fingers.

The position check is this; the top card is now in some cop/palm hybrid in your dominant hand and the deck is held at the outer corner by the other hand, showing the bottom of the deck to the audience.

Replacing the copped card is simply a matter of reversing the nondom hand's actions and placing the deck on the single card. Square up the deck and had it to the spectator as in the rest of the routine.

I think this has a couple of points that make things slightly easier;

1. There is no shifting of grip by the hand taking the deck for display. Also, it can be done from dealing grip, there is no get ready to get the deck on the pivot point.

2. Since the single card is in the same orientation as the deck the replacement is automatic. There is no finger movement to manoever the card flush.

3. If the deck is held by a corner it has a tendency to slip slightly out of flush. This is a good thing as it gives motivation for returning the deck to your hand before passing it out - you are squaring the messy deck. Otherwise, why not show the bottom of the deck and then just hand it across?

Anyway, there you are. I've not tried to write out a move before, so things might be confusing. If I've reinvented something from 1927 (probably Marlo) I apologise and would like to be told if this is the case. If not, maybe someone can use this for something...

Take care, Ian

[Ed Oschmann]

Ian,
I tried it out and it definately feels much better than the Kurtz variation. Also, I like your choice of nomenclature (sp?), dom/nondom. Perhaps more books could be written this way.(?)
Good job, Ed

[Guest]

I don't know the original move but this one is very good. Thanks.

Just a quick note, though, the term dominant hand refers to the hand you usually use for writing (i.e. the one you are "better" with). In this case, most people's dominant hand would be the RIGHT one.

[Ian Kendall]

Thanks for the comments. Even if you do not know the Kurtz routine it's a nice way to either get the top card to the bottom, or to cop from the top of the deck.

As for the routine itself; I've been playing around and it seems great for younger people. For example, you can tell them you will make them into the magician for a bit, and when the deck is in their hands they can see that the magic has happened. Just a thought.

As for Dominant...this was an offshoot of another thread a few weeks ago. Also, this was my first attempt at writing up a move. When I was thinking what to say I had a deck in my left hand, and thought that this was the hand most likely to be holding etc. Having said that, I did put a paragraph to explain in olde worlde wais, and I am left handed, so it is _my_ dom hand :)

Take care, Ian

[Jeffrey Cowan]

I've been doing this trick regularly for more than 12 years now, and think it's terrific. More specifically, I find it a great vehicle to showcase my personality (such as it is). And on that note, it's proved a GREAT effect to do for women. . . especially single ones. You unattached guys out there will have to do the rest of the math yourself!