Introduction
Centuries ago, when playing cards were rare and valuable objects owned only by the rich and powerful, the first tricks of legerdemain with cards were made possible through the use of the key card. [Note: Playing cards were indeed luxury items in medieval Europe, often hand-painted and owned primarily by nobility until mass production began in the 15th century. – RJW]
The principle is so obvious that there are few persons who are not familiar with it, and yet some of the finest and most deceptive card tricks, which have puzzled and entertained hundreds of thousands of persons, are made possible by the lowly key card.
We speak of the key card as “lowly” because among the uninformed it has fallen into disrepute because it is so widely known. Using it inartistically is a gaucherie. If used with finesse, it is one of the most potent artifices in the whole realm of conjuring with cards. In this, as in many other things, it is not the tool that is important but the personality, character, and intelligence of the person using the tool. Using the same tools, one artist produces an exquisite portrait; another, a meaningless daub. So it is with the key card; the dabbler performs a colorless trick, the competent conjurer presents a brilliant tour de force.
No doubt, before opening this book, you were familiar with the principle that if you know the name of one card in the pack, and contrive to have an unknown card replaced either above or below it, you can unfailingly find the unknown card, no matter how many times the pack may be cut. This is the manner in which the dabbler at card tricks uses this principle. [Note: The key card principle is fundamental to card magic – by knowing one card’s position relative to another, a magician can locate the unknown card even after cuts. This works because cutting doesn’t separate adjacent cards. – RJW]
But we shall show you how this same principle may be used in such a manner that even those familiar with it will be completely deceived. We shall give you the mechanics of tricks with the key card which makes use of the principle in new and ingenious ways, and shall show you how the old methods may be used so that they appear new and different. Finally, we shall show you that use of the key card will enhance your reputation as a clever sleight-of-hand performer with cards, whose deceptions are entertaining and insolvable.
First, however, we must explain the Key Undercut and Key Undercut Shuffle, two useful sleights which have been described, but not by name, in Gray’s Spelling Trick. [Note: This refers to Louis F. Gray’s “Gray’s Spelling Trick,” a classic card effect where cards are dealt to spell out words. The authors are systematizing techniques that existed but weren’t formally named. – RJW]
The Key Undercut
This method of undercutting a pack is often used to place a key card above a chosen card, and we give it the above title to distinguish it from the regular undercut used in the overhand shuffle, with which it must not be confused. [Note: The overhand shuffle was the standard shuffling method in American card play during this era, making this distinction important for readers of the time. – RJW]
- Let us say that you have glimpsed the card at the bottom of the pack for use as a key card. Hold the deck by its sides at the tips of your left thumb and your middle and ring fingers. Draw out the lower half with your right thumb and your middle finger by grasping it at the sides near the inner corners.
- Let the packet remaining in your left hand fall on to the palm and extend that hand for the replacement of the chosen card on top.
- Immediately drop the right-hand packet on it and square the deck very openly, thus placing your key card above the chosen card. Be careful to hold the right-hand packet face downwards, and do not glance at it. Some performers take a glimpse of the bottom card at this time, a very bad practice widely open to detection. [Note: I am surprised that the authors did not talk about using an overhand shuffle to set the key card. I.E. begin an overhand shuffle and pause about half way for the return of the selected card. Continue the shuffle but “milk” the bottom card so that it ends up on top of the selection. If you want to conceal the action a bit more, run a number of cards, say five, before doing the milk. This will put the key with five cards below it, and then the selection. – RJW]
Key Undercut Shuffle
The purpose of this shuffle is to mix the cards without separating the key card from the card which it keys. It should be used after the key undercut whenever possible.
Lift the whole pack and freely shuffle off about one-third of the cards, let another third of the cards fall in a block and then shuffle the remaining cards freely. Thus the two cards at the centre must remain together. [Note: This shuffle technique maintains the relationship between the key card and the selected card while giving the appearance of thorough mixing – a crucial deception in card magic. – RJW]
A genuine overhand shuffle is not likely to separate the cards, but the above method makes their juxtaposition a certainty.
[Note: There are many ways of setting a key card. I will often have the spectator cut the deck into three piles, left to right. I ask them to look at the top card of the middle pile and then complete the cut, which puts the key card (the bottom card) on top of the selection. Another technique I use is to begin with the key card fifth from the top of the deck. I start to spread the cards for the spectator to choose one and when I spread the fifth card, I cull it below the spread and re-insert it above the card the spectator chooses. – RJW]