Playing Card Manipulations

7/30/2019 Playing Card Manipulations

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N U M BER O N E

TH E H O L L Y W O O D D O U B L E LI FT


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The Real W ork Teach - In Ser ies is

a co l l ec t i on o f m anusc r ip t s be ingpub l i shed in e lec tron ic fo rm

fo r on - l i ne d i st ri bu t ion .

T h e H o l l y w o o d D o u b l e Li ft i s 1 9 9 9 G ary O u el l et

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TH E H O L L Y W O O D D O U B L E LI FT

G A RY O U ELLET

A p h r a se i s b o r n i n t o t h e w o r l d b o t h

good and b ad a t the same t im e . The secre t l ies in a sl igh t , an a lm ost inv is ib le

tw ist . The lever sho u ld rest in yo ur hand ,

get ti ng w arm, and you can on ly t u rn i t onc e , no t tw ice .

-Gu y de M aupassan t

T he double l i f t , a s le ight o f recent or i -g ins i f you cons ider that magic is the o ld-est of the per forming ar ts, has been hai ledas the m ost use fu l m ove in a l l o f ca rd co n -

j u r i n g. It c an stan d th e sc ru ti n y o f rep eat-ed use, i f p roper ly executed. There have

been, o f course, hundreds o f var ia t ionspu bl i shed o ver the years, from the grou ndbreak ing na tu ral app roach by D a i Ve rnon

in the o r ig ina l Stars of M agic Serie s, tomore da r ing and ba f f l i ng app l i ca t ions by

the la te Ar turo Ascan io , a t rue master inthe hand l ing o f doub le ca rds.

I f on ly to p e rfo rm A m b i t i ous Card , one o fthe mo st amaz ing t r i cks i n a l l o f m ag ic no

m atter t he rou t ine em p loy ed , i t i s w or thm astering a dou ble l i f t . I have pu b l i shed anum ber o f l i f t s i n Close U p Illusions, and

i n Finger on the Card , bu t I th ink that theversion descr ibed here surpasses them indecep t ion .

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W hat fo l l o w s i s a hand l in g tha t has deve l -

op ed, l i te ra l ly , ov er a decade o f research.

I have been enamored by the doub le l i f ts i n c e c h i l d h o o d , e s p e c i a l l y h a n d l i n g s

wh ich seemed " loose" : where the doub lewas no t g r ipped in a dea th - lock ho ld by

w h i t e - k n u c k l e d f i n g e r s , a l l o f w h i c hem ph asized the s ing le-ness (or singu lar i ty )of the card(s).

The move i tse l f takes but a few seconds,bu t ge t ti ng the re w i l l t ake som e t ime .

Indeed , i t w i l l t ake 30 ph o tog raphs ! I t m ay

t a k e y o u a w h i l e t o b u i l d u p t h e m u s c l em e m o r y n e e d e d t o m a k e a n y s l e i g h tsm oo th c ru is ing, so I suggest yo u take i t as tep a t a t ime. I have never taught the

move to anyone, so th is is i t s premiererelease!

C AVEAT

This exp lanat ion o f fers no uses for the

s le ight , no rout ine, no t r ick . There aremany thousands o f pub l i shed ca rd t r i ckswh ich re l y on the doub le - l i f t and i t i sassumed the reader has a use for the

sle igh t. I f you a re t ru l y new to ca rd m ag ic ,here is i ts most bas ic app l ica t ion. Themagic ian turns over the top card o f the

deck (say, the Ace of Spades), and turns i tback face dow n. H e takes i t , inser ts i t

c lean ly i n to the m idd le o f the deck , snapsh is f ingers , and amazing ly , the card hasj u m p ed b ac k to th e to p . Th e sec ret: w h en

the mag ic ian apparen t l y t u rned ove r thetop ca rd , he real l y t u rned o ve r two ca rds.

So when he tu rned them back face downand took the top ca rd and bu r ied i t i n t hedeck , i t w as no t t he Ac e o f Spades w h ich ,

conven ien t l y , i s now the t r ue top ca rd o f

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t he deck , and can be show n to have mag -

ical ly r isen. This is, of course, the basic

premise o f a c lass ic t r ick ca l led TheAmb i t i ous Card where th i s scenar io i s

repeated over and over aga in , wi th var ia-t i ons and m oun t ing cha l l enge con d i t i ons .

M y person al favor i te rou t ine for th is leg-endary t r i ck can be found a t my webs i te ,

w w w . o u e l l e t s h o w s . c o m. G o t o t h eM a gi c i a n s O n l y p a ge an d y o u w i l l f i n d i tin th e t ip sheets. You can b yp ass the m agic

test by using the passw ord, jam ary .

T H E ELEM EN TS O F A G O O D D O U BLE LI FT

A g o o d d o u b l e l i ft l o o k s n a tu r al , an d c o n -

ta ins elem ents w hic h suggest that therecan on ly be one ca rd , t he m ind o f t he

on lookers unconsc ious ly compu t ing tha tmore than one ca rd wou ld be v i s ib le , o rthey w ou ld separa te , and so fo r th . W ha t i s

wrong w i th many doub le l i f t s be ing pe r -

formed by magic ians is the obv ious fearthat the cards w i l l separate, or m ov e out o fa l i gnmen t , and consequen t l y t hey p inchthe card(s) t igh t ly , in a death grip . A card

is a de l ic a te ob ject , a p iece o f th i ck p aper,and the re i s no log ica l exp lana t ion fo rgr ipp ing a s ing le card t igh t ly , o r unnatu-

ral ly.

G ET TI N G REA D Y

Al though there is a school o f thought that

be l ieves the co r rect w ay to get in to themove is s imply to reach over to the cra-

d led deck and l i f t up two ca rds w i th ther ight fo re f inger - a method descr ibed byD r . Jacob D a ley in the Stars of M agic

ser ies - I have fou nd that th is app roach is

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r i sky . Depend ing on the cond i t i on o f t he

deck , and you r fam i l i a r i ty w i th the deck in

quest ion ( som eone m ay have handed yo uthe i r deck w i th i ns truc t ions to d o a t r i ck )

the major i ty o f doub le l i f ts requ i re thatyo u f i rs t get a sm al l b reak (sm al l b e ing the

opera t i ve word he re ) under the top twocards . The ac t o f coun t ing up two ca rdsw i th the r i gh t t humb i s usua l l y a dead

g ive -a -w ay to on loo k ing m agic ians, and , Isuspec t , a susp ic io us mo m ent i n w ha tshou ld be an o the rw ise c lean hand l ing

per fo rmance .

As much as poss ib le , the deck shou ld behe ld i n an "ungr ipped" pos i ti on , as exem -p l i f ied by the m aster Juan Tam ar iz : Pho to

1 .

The excuse fo r t he r i gh t hand to comeover and get the break sho u ld be to squ areup a sl i gh t l y unk emp t deck , and the re fo re

I a lw ays precede the break-get ting act io n

by d r ibb l i n g the ca rds: Pho to 2 .

Now you have a reason ( c lean ing up thesmal l mess) to br ing the r ight hand over

the deck : Pho to 3 .

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W hat fo l l o w s i s t he tr ad i ti ona l h and l ing o f

using the pad o f t he r i gh t thum b to l i f t uptw o cards at the back - BU T, and th is is a

b ig bu t , i ns tead o f l i f t i ng up , you in fac tshou ld l o w er the back o f t he deck : Pho tos

4 and 5 . Th is keeps the "curvature" o fthese cards as they are be ing c ou nted o uto f v iew . Imm ed ia te l y (and th i s can take

only a f rac t ion o f a second) re lease thetw o ca rds on to the le ft p inky f i nge r w h ichpresses ever so l ight ly against the r ight

s ide o f the deck, and then br ing the deck

back to a l eve l po si t i on : Pho to 6 .

D o no t take the r i gh t hand aw ay becauseapparen t l y you a re go ing to con t inue

st ra ighten ing the deck, and add a f inessethat is a throw -of f to those w atch in g l ike

hawks .

T H E W AV E FIN ESSE

Apparen t l y , i n you r squar ing up ac t ion ,you w i l l beve l t he deck back and fo r th ,wh ich v i sua l l y conveys an impress ion o f" l oose" hand l in g , bu t w h ich w i l l r e ta in the

sec ret l y ob ta ined b reak u nder the top tw ocards.

Othe r than the le f t p inky app ly ing a l i gh tpressure and main ta in ing the break, the

le f t hand crad les the deck very loose ly .The r ight h and is over the deck , f i r st f ingercur led over i t , and o ther f ingers extended

toward the f r on t , w i th the thumb loose lyon the back : Pho to 7 . The r i gh t hand g r ip

is also v ery loo se. N ote that the extend edf ingers do n ot gr ip the deck b ut ex tend for -w a r d .

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The second f inger o f the r ight hand now

beve ls the f ron t o f t he deck backw ard :

Photo 8 , and then the thumb pushes for -ward, s t ra ighten ing the deck once aga in :

Photo 9 . But desp i te the loose gr ips, thebreak und er the top tw o cards, jus t r ides

a long: Photos 10 and 11 are an exposedv iew f rom the r i gh t w i th the r i gh t handpar t ia l ly ra ised.

I t i s jus t a l i t t le squar ing act ion, beve l ingthe deck back and for th , but th is f inesse

w i l l t h ro w o f f m a gi c i a n s, w h o d o n o t th i n k

you have a b reak , and i f expec t ing a dou-b l e l i ft , w i l l l a te r w o n d e r w h e n y o u g o t i ta t a l l .

O kay : you ve go t a b reak under tw o ca rdsand are ready to execute the l i f t i t se l f . But

before I exp la in the l i f t , I need to o ut l in e amove ca l l ed the Crook , f i r s t exp la ined inClose U p I l lusions, and repeated here so

tha t t h i s desc r ip t i on w i l l be comp le te .

Again , th is is a l i t t le u t i l i t y m ov e that m anyo w n e rs o f Close U p I l lusions passed b y. I tw a s d e v e l o p e d b y G i l l e s C o u t u r e f o ranother use, but over the years I have

foun d c ou nt less w ays to use th is gem ,so m e o f w h i c h I h a v e e x p l ai n e d i n v i d e o sp r o d u c e d b y V i d e o n i c s a n d n o w d i s t r i b -

u ted b y Lou is Fa langa.

TH E C R O O K M O V E

Step aw ay f rom the doub le l i f t exp lana t ion

fo r a mo m ent . W e a re go ing to pause justto exp la in the mechan ics o f t h i s move ,

then resum e the dou b le l i f t f rom w here w eju st l eft o ff. Th e r i gh t h an d h as b eenremoved for c lar i ty , and i t i s not used in

the Crook m echan ics.

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H ere i s t he Crook M ove . The le ft hand

ho ld s the deck , and the le f t p inky i s ho ld -ing a b reak be low tw o ca rds.

The le f t fo re finger co m es up to the far r igh t

corner, as the lef t thumb relaxes i ts pres-sure on the top , al lo w ing the break to ex ista l l a long the r ight s ide o f the deck: Photo

1 2 .

The pad o f the le f t fo re f inger com es d i rect -

l y o n to the fa r ri gh t co rne r o f t he doub le :

Pho to 13 .

The le f t fo re f inger pu l ls th is corner do w nand to the le f t , wh ich p i vo ts the doub le

cou n te rc lock w ise against t he c rook o f t hele ft thum b: Pho to 1 4 .

N ote that the cards m ov e in per fect a l ign-m e n t .

Pract ice th is (easy) m ov e a b i t b efore con -t i nu ing . W e a re now ready to resum e thedesc r ip t i on o f t he dou b le l i f t .

T H E PI CK-U P A N D D I SPLAY

Reca l l t ha t the deck w as now squared in

the le ft hand , t he le ft p inky w as ho ld ing abreak, and the r ight hand w as ov er the

deck . Two ac t ions w i l l occu r s imu l tane -ou sly . The l e f t finger car r ies ou t the Croo kmove as the ex tended r i gh t t humb and

secon d f inger grasp the le f t corn ers o f thedou b le ca rd : Pho to 15 .

As you can now see , t he Crook move i sused to secre t ly enab le the r igh t hand gr ip

of the ext reme le f t corners o f the double

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w i thou t f um b l in g . Bo th ac t ions take p lace

at once, and the idea is to convey the

impress ion tha t t he r i gh t hand s imp lyp ic ked up the top card a t the le f t f ront and

back c orners.

O nce the r i gh t hand h as g ripped the do u-b le , l i f t i t up o f f t he deck , fl ex ing i t dow n-w ard sl i gh t l y and c u r l i ng in the r i gh t t h i r d

f inger , br ing ing the na i l o f that f ingeraga inst the back o f the card : Pho to 16 .

N o w , e x te n d t h e th i r d f i n ge r, w h i c h p i v o t s

the card(s) in to a face up po si t ion , ro ta t ingon the ax i s p rov ided by the r i gh t handhold a t the le f t corners : Photo 17. Thep ick -up and ro ta ti on i s ca r ri ed ou t m ore o r

less simultaneously.

Place the doub le o n to the top o f t he deck ,stepped forw ard and to the r ight as sho w nin Photo 18. The r ight hand re leases the

card, and the card i s he ld there by the le f t

t h u m b .

I w ant to take a m om ent to d i scuss th isd isp lay pos i t ion . The hands can gesture -

Photo 19 - as you ta lk about th is card .Again, th is is a very subt le f inesse. Thecard(s) look s sing le , the h andl ing appears

noncha lan t and uns tud ied , and i t i s no r -m a l t o ca l l a t ten t ion to the iden t i t y o f t he

ca rd .

W hen yo u a re ready , r esum e the ac t ion .

T H E PI N CH PI CK-U P

Yo u a r e n o w g o i n g to p i c k u p t h e d o u b l eaga in w i th the r i gh t hand .

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The thumb and second f i nge r come up

against the far and lef t edges of the dou-

b le : Pho to 2 0 .

By squeez ing together , they p ush the inn erle f t corner up aga inst the base o f the le f t

t humb: Pho to 21 . No te tha t t h i s ac t i onkeeps the doub le i n a l i gnm en t .

Now, by exe r t i ng upward p ressu re w i ththe r i gh t t humb, and downward p ressu rew i th the le f t secon d f inger - Pho to 22 - the

dou b le i s p i vo ted face dow n: Pho to 23 . If

you w ish , t h i s ac t i on can be made in to asnapp in g m ove .

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N o w , y o u l o w e r th e l e ft ed g e o f th e d o u -

b le o nto th e le f t fingers, a l ign in g th is edgew i th the r i gh t edge o f the deck - Pho to 24

- and so f t l y a l l ow the le ft edge o f t he dou -b le to fa l l aga inst the pad o f the le f t

t h u m b : Ph o t o 2 5 .

Now comes ano the r i n te res t ing d i sp lay

m ove . Fo r th i s t o w ork sm oo th ly , keep thet ip o f t he le ft t h i r d f i nger tucked dow non to the deck .

W i th the le f t t hum b p ush ing s l i gh t l y , keep-ing the oppos i te ( r igh t ) end o f the doublef i rmly aga inst the second pad o f the le f tsecond f i nge r , p i vo t t he back end o f t he

dou b le cou n te rc lock w ise - Pho to 26 - andback to the prev ious pos i t ion :Photo 27) .

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The r igh t hand , f i nge rs be low and thumb

on top, grabs the inner r ight corner o f thedou b le - Pho to 2 8 . . .

and f l i ps i t f ace down on to the deck :Photo 29. Note that i t has been f l ipped

dow n so tha t i t l ands ex tended abou t 3 /4 "rear- jogged.

Immed ia te l y t i l t t he f r on t o f t he deckd o w n , a n d t o y o u r a m a z e m e n t , I h o p e ,the doub le w i l l g l i de fo rward , pe r fec t l y

a l i gned , un t i l i t moves square ly on to the

deck : Pho to 30 .

Th is fl ip p in g over to a rear - jogged pos i t ionthen t i l t i ng i t f o rward i s a con t inuous

ac t ion , and i s a a fi na l sub t le bu t conv inc -ing argument for s ingu lar i ty . The f inesse

w as f i r st pub l i shed in m y boo k , Finger onthe Card .

An d that s i t . It may take a w hi l e to get a l l

th is do w n pat , but le t me assure you th atthe handl ing is natura l . I t does not suf ferf r om be ing too ove r - f l ou r i shy . F rom theP inch -p ickup to the f i na l a l i gnmen t face

down on to the deck , t he ac t ion i s con t in -uous. The overa l l impress ion created istha t o f fa i r l y show ing and hand l in g a sin -

g le card , w i tho ut say ing so over t ly .

D o n ' t l o o k b a c k . ..

som eth ing m igh t be ga in ing

-SatchelPaige

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Playing Card Manipulations

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