Deadly Force

Remember back in the day . . . Annemann . . . Seriously folks, if you haven’t read The Jinx and/or Practical Mental Effects what the heck are you doing reading this rag. Go read that stuff first. Hey! Wait! Come back! I was only kidding! I mean . . . you should read those, but don’t leave me . . . I’ll be lonely. So to help bridge the gap, I’ve got an effect taken straight out of The Jinx plus an addition of my own that I hope you’ll find valuable. Even if you don’t like my contribution, you really should at the very least give the original routine a shot:

Dead!

By Orville Meyer

Originally Published in Issue 38 of The Jinx – November 1937

Here is the original content as printed in The Jinx:

A Living and Dead test should concentrate upon the wallop of the effect rather than the method. This is impromptu, and while the presentation idea involved belongs to Eddie Clever, the method of handling and using billets instead of envelopes and cards is mine. In this form the billets can be torn out of borrowed paper without preparation or notice.

Use 5 or six billets about 2×3 Inches. These are folded three times, or to a manipulation size. One is secretly dotted on the outside, or given an extra bend or kink. The slips are passed out, and the person getting the marked one is asked to write a dead name. The others write living names. Writers refold and drop into a hat, the collecting being done by a spectator.

The performer picks out a slip, making sure it isn’t the dead one, and announces it as a living name. He opens to verify, nods, refolds and gives to man who collected slips. As an afterthought he has this man read name on slip aloud so writer can claim it. Now reach in and take dead slip, finger palming a live one. Slip is held to forehead and you announce it to be another LIVE one. Open for verification as before, [SECRETLY] READ THE DEAD NAME, nod, refold, switch slips in handing to assistant, and he reads the LIVE name and it is claimed by owner.

Take out third slip, dropping DEAD name back in hat. Repeat same procedure with this live slip [that was used on the first slip]. You have accustomed audience to your way of handling papers, and twice, first and third times, your hands are actually empty. For fourth time take out DEAD name [this time openly]. Build this up. Announce it to be [the] dead name and ask for owner. Return paper to him and ask him to keep it closed. Then reveal the name, letter for letter. Everything can be examined and returned to owners, which is a point too many tricks cannot boast about.

The Force

Many of you will see my addition as trivial and maybe even a step in the wrong direction, and you may be right. However, it fits for a little mini-project I’m working on. I’m currently working on two close up acts. One that has no card tricks, and one that is only card tricks . . . no other props, no gimmicks, no duplicates. Each show will start with me cracking the seal of the deck and leaving the deck (mostly destroyed) behind when I’m done.

When I came across this effect (again), I happened to be searching for effects I could do with a deck of cards. This one is so good and I wanted to do it, so my brain made some weird connections. Basically, the idea is this: use playing cards as billets. That’s pretty much it. However, here’s the sneaky benefit: get a glimpse of the top or bottom card of the deck and force it on the person who will be writing the dead name. As a side note, this is a good place to practice your classic force. If you’re doing the effect for several people, keep trying for the classic force until it hits. Whoever gets the force card is the person you ask to write a dead name.

Once the name are written, have them folded into quarters and dropped into your receptacle. You can then reach in and grab a couple and peak the card easily as shown in the photo above. Once you know which one is the dead one, you can put it back in the receptacle watching where you put it so you can grab it again in a moment. From there, you can proceed as outlined above. Just make sure when you open the card to apparently read the living name (but secretly read the dead name) that you don’t let the face of the card be seen.

As I said, this is nothing revolutionary, but it fit my need to add a bit of a different effect that I could do with a deck of cards for my “cards only” act. I haven’t tested this, and so I can’t speak to its value in a live performance, but I do like the casual nature of how it feels. As I’m working out the details on my “cards only” act, I’m liking this for a closer. Throughout the show, cards are torn and restored, bent, signed, burned and so forth. So by the time I get to the end, the deck is thinner. I like that this kills another 5 or six cards.

Further, I like the line I’ll be using which I haven’t yet fleshed out, but basically it’ll be something like this: “I’d like to show you one last thing with this deck, that goes beyond mere card tricks or even mere card miracles. . . we’re going to actually use the cards to bridge the gap between the living and the dead . . .” Something like that. This line will make a bit more sense in the context of some of the history of playing cards and their supposed mystical properties that I discuss throughout the show.

That’s it folks. Let me know what you think, and don’t be afraid to tell me I’m an idiot! 🙂