Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue
with illustrations by Frank Rigney
For Millie and Annette
Preface
Many years ago David Devant, the great English conjurer, was approached by an acquaintance new to sleight-of-hand with cards. “Mr. Devant,” said this young man, “I know three hundred tricks with cards. How many do you know?.” Devant glanced at the youth quizzically. “I should say,” the magician responded dryly, “that I know about eight.”
Devant was making a point with which all professional magicians are familiar. To perform card tricks entertainingly you must not only know how the tricks are done, but how to do them. There is a vast difference between the two, and if proof were needed, one need only watch the same feat performed by a novice and by an expert card conjurer. The novice knows the mechanics of so many tricks that he cannot do any one feat really well; the professional performs a smaller number of tricks which he knows how to present in such a way as to create the greatest possible impression upon those who watch.
We cannot emphasize too strongly that knowing the secret of a trick is not the same as knowing how to perform that trick; and that knowing the secret of hundreds of tricks is of little value unless each can be performed smoothly and entertainingly. It is far better to know only a few tricks which can be performed with grace, skill and effect.
In writing this book, we have attempted to teach you card tricks which may be performed anywhere, at any time, under any circumstances, for any company, and using any pack of cards. You will not need “trick” packs of cards, nor special cards, nor expensive accessories. This is most important, for it means that no matter where you may be, you need only borrow a deck of cards when called upon to entertain; the ability to amuse and interest will be literally at your finger tips.
To ensure that you will be a good card magician, we have introduced you to the mysteries of card magic progressively. Each chapter describes a new sleight or principle and a selection of tricks follows in which that particular sleight, and those already learned, are the only ones used. We do not suggest that all the tricks in each section should be mastered before you pass on to the next sleight. You should, however, select at least two of them and learn them so well that you can perform them smoothly and entertainingly before going any farther. These tricks have been chosen with the greatest care and every one of them is effective if properly done. If you find that, in your hands, a certain trick falls flat, you can rest assured that the fault is yours, and that further study is required.
Clearly, to travel the royal road to card magic, you must begin with the fundamental principles and learn these well, as you would in learning any other art. Fortunately, the study of card conjuring is a delightful task and one that is no less than fascinating. For this reason, we have found that the student is inclined to race ahead to explore the distant pastures which he is sure (and rightly!) are lushly green. We cannot blame you if you, too, wish to rush through this book, but we would rather have you emulate the tortoise than the hare. By making haste slowly, by really learning what is given you in one chapter before proceeding to the next, you will, in the end, be a far better card magician.
By adhering to our plan of study, you will not only learn practical sleights and subtleties, but you will simultaneously add to your repertoire of good card tricks which will surprise and please all those who see them. Best of all, you can begin performing tricks of sleight-of-hand as soon as you have mastered the first chapter, and thus at once learn through practical experience before audiences how tricks must be presented to achieve the greatest effect from them. Then, too, we have inserted in each chapter feats which are self-working-effects which require no skill on the part of the performer. These will give you an opportunity for concentrating your whole attention on acting your part in such a way as to bring out the trick’s greatest possible effect.
We reiterate that there is a vast difference between doing and performing card tricks. Since your primary purpose in performing sleight-of-hand with cards is to entertain those who watch, it is not enough that you should achieve technical perfection alone.
You must also make your tricks amusing and interesting by weaving about a trick’s basal plot a pleasant discourse which will divert the spectators. We have tried to show you how this is done by outlining talk–or “patter”–for most of the tricks. Naturally, your patter should be in keeping with your own personality, gay and amusing if you have an ebullient personality, more factual if you are a more serious person. For this reason you should use the patter we have suggested only as an illustration of how the bare bones of a trick may be clothed in talk and action to make the presentation a striking one.
True art, we have been told, holds the mirror to nature. This is especially true of conjuring with cards. Complete naturalness of action, speech and manner is the essence of the art. There is a school of card conjuring in which the artist, by the mere rapidity of his actions, attempts to impress his audience with the great skill he possesses. We urge you to eschew this type of card work and instead strive at all times for a natural, relaxed, graceful handling of the cards.
There are a number of general rules governing good card magic which you should always keep in mind:
- Never tell beforehand what you purpose to do. Forewarned, the audience conceivably may discover the method. Wait until the climax, when all the necessary secret preparations have been made, before announcing what you will do.
- Do not repeat a trick, unless you can duplicate the effect by another means.
- Never reveal the secret of a trick. Many good card tricks are so simple that to reveal the method is to lower yourself in the estimation of the audience, which has given you great credit for a skill which you then confess you do not possess!
- Use misdirection to help you conceal the vital sleight or subtlety employed in a trick. Misdirection is simply the diversion of the audience’s attention during the moments when a sleight or subtlety is made use of. Let us say, for instance, that you must make use of the sleight known as The Pass in the course of a trick. You can divert attention from your hands by addressing a remark to someone, at the same time glancing at him; all eyes will turn to the person you have addressed as he makes his response. You can divert attention by requesting someone to hand you a nearby object, which has the same effect of turning everyone’s gaze, for an instant, towards the object; and in that instant you perform your secret sleight. You can divert attention by having someone show to others a card which he holds; as everyone glances at it, you perform the necessary sleight.
- Know what your patter will be for a given trick. Not only will your patter help in entertaining your audience, but it aids in concealing the modus operandi of the feat. Since a certain amount of a person’s powers of concentration must be devoted to assimilating that which you say, he cannot analyse quite so clearly that which you do.
Finally, we should mention that we have not included the more recondite and difficult card sleights, such as the second and bottom deals, which in any event are performed well by only a few topflight card experts. Later, when you have learned all that we have given in this book, you may, if you like, progress to these sleights, which you will find in Expert Card Technique, and other books. For the time being we urge you to confine your knowledge of card magic to this book, learning how to do, and how to perform, the fine tricks which we give.
And now we have talked to you long enough; you are impatient to savour the good things to come. To you we say “Bon Voyage!” as we stand aside to let you start your journey up the royal road to card magic.
Jean Hugard Frederick Braue