Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Phase Six


In 1951 Eddie Joseph released a manuscript called The Invisible Influence: The No Touch Card Act. The manuscript can still be bought from Abbott’s Magic.

The trick seems little known these days, which is a pity because the principle upon which it operates is very interesting. One reason it might be overlooked is that The Invisible Influence was a six-part routine using a deck that had to be stacked in a particular and unorthodox order. It was a coincidence effect played out with a deck of cards cut into two portions. Cards chosen from one portion would turn up matching cards in the other.

But if you manage to read through the first five phases you get to the crux of the method, which is best highlighted in the sixth phase. And that’s what I’m describing here. The only adjustments I’ve made are a simpler set-up, the use of two decks and some ideas that might be useful in presenting the trick. The genius is all Eddie Joseph’s. Do give it a try. And then seek out the rest of the manuscript from Abbott’s.

EFFECT: Two decks of cards are shown, one red, one blue. The spectator chooses one. The other is used as your ‘prediction’ deck.

From the chosen deck the spectator now cuts to three cards. And leaves them reversed in the deck. The two decks are now placed face-down, side by side.

You deal through the two decks simultaneously until you reach the first face-up chosen card, for example the Six of Hearts. The card at the same position in the neighbouring deck matches it exactly. It too is the Six of Hearts.

The cards either side of the Sixes do not match.

The dealing is continued until the next face-up card is reached. Once again, the card at that same position in the neighbouring deck matches exactly.

This is repeated with the third face-up card. Another match. All three selections were apparently correctly predicted.

METHOD: This is the sixth phase of the Eddie Joseph routine and the trick is completely self-working. Take a deck of cards and shuffle it. Now take a second deck and set it up in the same order as the first but in reverse. So the top card of one deck is the face card of another.

In performance you place both decks on the table and have one chosen. It’s a free choice. Put the other deck aside for the moment telling the spectators that it is your prediction deck.

The trick works because of the way the spectator will choose and reverse the three cards. Begin by asking the spectator to cut a few cards from the top of the face-down chosen deck. And place them face-down on the table.

The new top card of the deck is now turned face-up, noted and dropped onto the tabled packet.

The spectator now cuts more cards from the deck and drops them face-down on top of the packet, burying the reversed card.

The new top card of the deck is turned face-up, noted and dropped face-up onto the tabled packet.

The spectator now cuts a third packet of cards from the deck and drops them face-down onto the tabled packet, burying the reversed card.

The new top card of the deck is turned face-up, noted and dropped face-up onto the tabled packet. Three cards have been chosen and reversed.

Finally, you take what remains of the deck and drop it on top of the face-up selection. The deck is now complete, face-down and with the three selections face-up and buried somewhere inside.

To finish, place your prediction deck face-down beside the chosen deck. Remove cards, one at a time, and simultaneously from both decks, placing them face-down on the table.

When you reach the first face-up card you also turn the card at the same position in the other deck face-up. It will match.

Drop both face-up cards onto the table.

You can, if you wish, now turn over the top cards of the dealt packets. They will in all probability not match. Neither will the new top cards of the decks. Turn them face-down and continue dealing through the decks until you come to the next face-up card.

You repeat the previous procedure. The card at the same position in your prediction deck will match the face-up card. Deal the matching cards to the table and continue dealing until you reach the third face-up card. Again you can show that the card in the opposite deck matches.

Deal the matching pair to the table. Reassemble the decks and, if you want, spread the cards. The two decks are not in the same order.

NOTES: The working is very simple. The effect very strong. With a little thought it might become something even better. There is the possibility that in turning over cards either side of the selection, you will find a match. But that’s purely accidental. And it’s unlikely this will happen more than once during the trick.  You can actually show lots of different cards as you deal through the deck, none of which will match. It's very convincing. However, if you want to know how to predict such matches, then it’s worth consulting Eddie Joseph’s manuscript and employing his original card set-up.

SIGNED PHASE: Another presentation you might want to try is instead of the spectator turning the cut-to cards face-up, have him sign the back.  Then place the signed face-down card on the cut packet as per the original handling.

This means the spectator never sees the faces of the three cards but he has signed them. Now when you deal through the two decks you take out each pair of cards, signed and card at the same position in the opposite deck, and place these pairs of cards aside. You can turn over these pairs of cards at the end of the trick, rather than during the deal, to reveal the match. It’s just an option but might some might prefer to present it this way.

SINGLE PHASE: Nick Trost mentioned the Eddie Joseph trick in one of his New Tops Conjuring with Cards columns (October 1991). Nick Trost suggested another way of reversing the card and cutting the deck, one based on what he called the Hen Fetsch Force.

This inspired the following, a prediction for a single chosen card using a handling similar to the Bill Simon Business Card Prophecy. The starting point is the same. Two decks, one in reverse order to the other. Have one deck chosen and spread it  face-down between the hands, from left to right, so that the spectator can point to a card. You divide the spread so the selected card is on top of the left hand portion.

Now with the left thumb push the selected card to the left. The right hand turns over, completely, so it is knuckles up. It takes the sidejogged selection between the right thumb and the deck of the inverted right hand.

Turn the right hand back to a palm up position. The selection is face-up on top of the right hand packet. The card is noted by the spectator. And you now place the right hand packet of cards below the left hand packet, burying the face-up card in the centre of the deck. This also effectively cuts the deck, setting up the single reversed card for a coincidence with the matching card in your prediction deck.

ADDITIONAL PREDICTIONS: There is room to make additional predictions. It would be great to show that you have predicted the three matching pairs in advance. But that would require a lot of extra work. However, there is a very simple prediction you can use at the beginning of the trick to lay the foundations for what comes later.

When you ask the spectator to choose one deck for himself and leave the other as your prediction deck, wouldn't it be good to show that he chose the right deck? An easy way to do this is using a two-way prediction. For example, have the decks cased. On the underside of one case it says 'Your deck.' On the underside of the other deck it says 'Prediction Deck.'  The cases contain the decks and each deck has a Joker on the face. On the backs of the Jokers you write similar captions. But each Joker contains the opposite caption to the one written on the card case. You now have a simple two-way prediction. When the deck is chosen, you either turn it over to reveal the caption or when you remove the jokers you turn them over to reveal the captions. That's it. Good luck and don't forget to check out the original manuscript, Eddie Joseph's Invisible Influence, which you can order from Abbott's Magic.