THE PIERCED CARDS
All that is needed for this trick is a deck of cards, a bodkin, a length of
ribbon and a paper bag. With that equipment you will have an effect
which may be performed impromptu and which I am sure that you will
like because it is so effective. There are so few card tricks which are big
in effect that I am certain that you will welcome this one.
The effect is not new but previous methods for performing the trick have
always needed special cards, or a prepared bag, and having the cards
forced. In this case you use any bag, any cards, and any ribbon, as well
as any bodkin.
Two cards are freely selected from the deck and returned and the cards
are shuffled. The cards are then dropped into an examined paper bag. A
ribbon is threaded through the bag with a sharp bodkin. The bodkin is
removed and the ends of the ribbon are handed to spectators to hold.
The bag is opened and the center of the ribbon is pulled up so that the
audience can see that it actually goes through the bag. The ribbon is
pulled back into the bag. The bag is shaken so that the cards further are
mixed inside the bag. The paper bag is torn away and the two chosen
cards are found to be threaded on the ribbon.
The pack is first shuffled and two cards are chosen. The choice is
entirely free for it does not make the least difference what the cards are.
The paper bag is passed for examination and left in the bands of the
spectator.
When the cards are returned to the deck they are both passed to the
top. The deck is shuffled so that the two selected cards are not
disturbed. Finally in the shuffle, slip one of the cards to the bottom of
the deck. At this moment, a chosen card will be found at both the top
and the bottom of the deck.
The paper bag is picked up with the left hand grasping one side of the
mouth of the bag. The cards, which have been held in the right hand,
are dropped into the bag. That is, all the cards are dropped into the bag
but the top and bottom cards which are retained between the fingers
and thumb. You have done this sleight before in other tricks. It depends
upon the friction of the fingers to hold the two outside cards as the grip
on the pack is loosened. This is shown in illustration number 1.
The two chosen cards are passed between the lingers of the left hand.
Illustration 2. The cards are shaken about. The bodkin is then pushed
through the bag and through the cards as is shown in illustration 3. The
ribbon is then drawn right through so that the bag is at the middle of the
ribbon. The center of the ribbon is pulled up out of the mouth of the bag.
Remember at this point that the left hand still grasps the chosen cards.
The ends of the ribbon are given to two spectators--one on either side of
the bag. By this time the cards have been released by the left hand. The
mouth of the bag is gathered together and the cards shaken again. Then
the bag is torn off the ribbon and the two chosen cards are found to be
strung on the ribbon.
Too much emphasis cannot be given to the fact that the cards finally
found on the ribbon actually are the cards which a moment before were
so freely chosen. You may wish to have the cards marked by those
choosing them. In order that the freedom of selection may better be
noted, you may wish to give the deck to each person to hold in his own
hands as he makes his selection.
At such times as you show the trick as an impromptu effect, you will find
it very easy to get the cards, ribbon, and paper bag. You may not find it
quite so easy to borrow a bodkin. On such occasions you will find it
perfectly possible to make a hole through bag and cards with the small
blade of a penknife and then use the point of the knife to push the
ribbon through the hole.
When you do the trick, having brought your own materials, you will find
it advisable to use a fairly strong ribbon, though not more than threequarters
of an inch wide, and a fair size paper bag. The bodkin, which
should have a sharp point the more easy to impale the cards, will, of
course, be threaded by the ribbon before the performance.
With proper presentation the effect can be built into magic which will
long be talked about. As everything which may be seen is so fair, the
patter should stress right up to the end that the magician "has done
nothing." When the bag has been threaded on the ribbon and the
spectators have hold of the ends and actually the trick is all over--then is
the time for the magician to say, as strongly as possible, just what he
plans to do. That, by the way, is the best time for a magician to make his
promises--after he has reached a point where it is impossible for
anything to go wrong.
