Effect: Magician dribbles the cards face up,
and asks the spectator to stop him at any time. When he says stop, the card displayed is
noted. The deck is quickly shuffled and cut, then split into two halves and fanned. These
fans brush across the table momentarily and the selected card appears face up between
them. The halves are ribbon spread face up on each side of the selection, the selected
card turned face down to show its red back, then the two halves are quickly flipped over
to show that they all have blue backs, making the selection the oddball.
Items: A red-backed deck and one blue-backed
stranger "short" card on top of the deck. Remove the duplicate of the stranger
card and discard it.
Performance: Your first job is to force the
apparently free selection while sub-consciously enforcing the blue backs of the cards. By
holding the deck face up from above in the right hand, use the index finger to curl around
the upper left corner of the cards, lift up small portions of cards and then swivel these
cards to the left. The left hand takes these cards into the left palm. As you do this, you
must occasionally tilt the deck in the right hand towards yourself (backs facing specs).
Time your actions so the swiveled cards are safely in your left hand before you tilt the
right hand's cards towards yourself. If this is done with a constant and controlled
rhythm, the specs will only see blue-backed cards during your cuts. As you run out of
cards, place the remaining portion from the right hand onto the bottom of the left hand's
cards. You may perform this series of swivel kick cuts frequently while speaking and
without exaggeration.
Now after you've stressed the color of the backs (and
please do not ever say "Here I hold an ordinary blue-backed deck!"), the right
hand should once again hold the deck face up, from above. Dribble the cards gently from
hand to hand. By using your sense of touch and the short card, force the stranger card.
Separate the halves and place the right half of the deck below the left half, clearly
displaying the selection. Now start to mix the cards again.
Cut the cards randomly until the selection is once
again on the bottom. Once again perform the optical reinforcement of the back color by
performing random swivel kick cuts, and cut the selection to the bottom.
Take half the cards into the right hand, and proceed
to fan the half in each hand, but fan the right half slightly in front and above the left
half. This is done to prevent the selected card from being seen should it stick out by
accident. Now as the fans brush each other lightly above the surface of the table, use the
right pinky to engage the stranger card at the bottom of the left fan. Pivot the card to
the center of the fan. Overlap the right fan on top of the left fan, and brush both fans
against the table. Finally, brush the fans together, pull them apart and release the
stranger card as both fans separate. The selected card magically appears between them
(this is a great card production move from Pau Harris' "Jigsaw" and
"Revised Revelation" effects [see page 28, Intimate Secrets or pages 34-37 of
SuperMagic).
Square each half, then casually ribbon spread the
halves face up on each side of the selection (you should be forming a letter "H"
on the table). Let the initial appearance set in, turn it face down and then
simultaneously flip over the two ribbon spreads to show the deck has now changed to a
red-backe deck.
Ruminations:
1. Unlike the common use of the unnatural Hindu
Shuffle which is frequently used to show a deck all alike, the above-mentioned kick cut
method will not allow for any tell-tale slip of a card. Only one back color is seen while
the cards are quickly and unobtrusively cut from hand to hand. Try doing a Hindu Shuffle
with a different colored card on the bottom of a face up deck. While trying to show the
back color is all alike, you will undoubtedly find that the stranger card likes to slip
downwards and thus expose another back color beneath it. This new method works like a
dream. In many ways it is like doing a Flushtration Count with an entire deck of cards.
2. The use of this Dribble Force with a short card
will fool many magicians. Everyone knows about them but few of us use them. By applying
its use here, you have a unique force. A suggestion to those of you who are daring;
experiment with various decks and you will discover every so often that a stranger card
from one deck will act as a short or long card when placed in another deck. I originally
used the new Tahoe cards for this effect, and I managed to feel the difference every time
(the new stiff card placed within a well-broken in deck was obvious to the fingers during
the execution of the dribble force. Furthermore, it was also quite audible to a
well-trained ear which means such a face up force could easily become a "A Lazy Man's
Peek" by allowing you to turn away or close your eyes during the "free"
selection); however, such a application isn't suggested unless you are a purist and have
developed a "feel" for your cards. Use the short card. Make life easy.
3. Don't overlook the simple climax of this effect.
The twin ribbon spread turnover at the end helps make the color change extremely powerful;
its impact on the eye is fast and strong. Try using it anytime you are going for a
color-changing deck climax. Simplicity and beauty. Who could ask for more?
