Alexander-de-Cova-Boxed-Transposition-2005-IncrediBooks.pdf

magical ideas & routines by Alexander de Cova

A signed selected card is placed face down into the middle of the face-up deck, protuding for half its length. The performer looks for the four kings and removes them from the pack. The kings are shown clearly on both sides and then placed into the empty card box (this is done by the spectator himself). Now the chosen signed card vanishes from the pack completely complet ely.. When the card box is opened, the signed selected card is found face-up in the middle of the four kings! For the killer finale, a king is cut into four pieces and yet the signed card transposes, ending up with the signed card being cut and the king restored!

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A note to the reader: This eBook is designed to be read most easily and comfortably in Acrobat Reader in fullscreen mode. Users with a Windows PC click «Window» and then click «Full Screen View» or press «CTRL+L» and navigate through the pages using the arrow keys. The author is aware of the possibilities of copying this eBook digitally—BUT please do NOT copy this eBook. Play fair, respect the intellectual properties of the originator and keep the value you have purchased for yourself. Thank you!

1st edition, eBook version Berlin 2005 Design & Layout: Alexander de Cova

© copyright 2005: Alexander de Cova. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronical or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, now known or to be invented, without permission in writing from the copyright holders. Worldwide copyrights for all the material are held solely by Alexander de Cova. All rights reserved.

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BOXED TRANSPOSITION A card routine by Alexander de Cova

INTRODUCTION Quite a few years ago the American magician and noted card expert Bruce Cervon published a very interesting booklet with various of his own card effects. One of them, which I liked very much, was the transposition of a signed card into the card case, in between the four kings that had been placed there previously. The handling and the construction of the routine were very well thought out, but required a certain gaff to accomplish the desired effect. Nevertheless, I liked the effect very much, because of its directness and impact. In 1986 I had a conversation with Tommy Wonder and amongst others things we hit upon the topic of using gimmicked cards. In the course of the conversation he suggested to sometimes give the gimmicked card into the hand of the spectator, in order to make the effect stronger (remember his fantastic Wild Card Routine «The Tamed Card»). With this in mind and the Bruce Cervon routine as a basis, the following routine was born, which is an absolute fooler. I have used it on television on a couple of occasions, because even when the spectators or the camera «burns» your hands and the cards, there is absolutely nothing to be seen (of the method, of course). This routine has fooled more than one knowledgeable card magician. After a few years I decided to add an additional kicker to the routine, which also cleans up everything. This is based on an idea of England’s Roy Johnson and described in the «Bonus Section». You can either end the routine as described, or perform the second climax, which enables you to end «clean». Your choice. 3


EFFECT: The spectator selects a card and signs it on the face. The card is placed face down into the middle of the face-up deck, protuding for about half of its length. Now the performer looks for the four kings (for example) and removes them from the pack. The kings are shown clearly on both sides and then placed into the empty card box. Now the chosen card vanishes from the pack. When the card box is opened, the signed selected card is found face-up in the middle of the four kings!

METHOD: A double-faced card as well as a very intriguing handling are the secrets to the effect. You will need a double-facer, a matching pack of cards and the card box, which must have an intact cellophane wrapper. The printing on the back side of the box should match the backs of the cards. I use the popular Bicycle brand of cards most of the time, which fulfill all these requirements. But also Tally-Ho cards and many other brands will work.

PREPARATION: I assume in this description that the double-facer shows an king on one side and an indifferent card (in our example the eight of hearts) on the other. Once you understand the principle, you can use other cards, of course. I prefer the above mentioned combination, because the spectator’s signature shows up very well on the red point card and is a good contrast to the picture cards. Search for the four kings and take them out of the pack. Discard the regular card from the pack, which matches the other side of the double-facer. Take the regular king that matches the double-facer and slide it face-down under the cellophane wrapper on the side of the card case where the moon cutout is (see fig. 1). Now the box looks normal. The other kings are

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distributed randomly throughout the deck and the double-facer is second from the face of the deck, the side with the indifferent card showing up (king side is hidden). This setup is shown in figure 2.

PERFORMANCE: Remove the deck from the case and put the latter to the side for the moment. Take care to place it down in such a way, that the side with the hidden card lies on the table.

You are now going to force the double-facer to the spectator. This is very easy, because you are going to perform the well known «Dribble Force», but with the deck held face-up. Simply spread through the cards, in order to show them all different, and get a break above your double-facer under the face card of the deck. Undercut about half of the deck from the bopttom to the top maintaining the break. This puts the double facer into the middle of the deck, you hold a standard thumb break above it in readiness to dribble-

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force this card. Square the deck and dribble the cards into the other hand until the spectator stops you. At his «stop» simply drop all the cards under the break and the indifferent side of the double facer is showing. This is the card the spectator selected (?) The whole procedure is shown in figures 3-9. Hand a pen to the spectator and let him sign the indifferent side of the double-facer. Reach out with the hand holding the cards and hold it in front of the spectator (as a sort of support for the signing, figure 10). If you want to save the double-faced cards, you could also let him place

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a signed sticker onto the face of the card (but in that case you can’t perform the Bonus kicker). Assemble the deck, so that the double-facer is on the face. Now double lift the top two cards and stick them face down into the middle of the face-up deck (fig. 11-13). Leave the double card sticking out of the front edge of the pack halfway and under cover of the face down card, secretly push the double-facer flush with the deck (fig. 14 and 15— seen from underneath). This is a well known move and not very difficult to execute.

The spectators think the protuding card is the signed card, but in reality it is an indifferent card. Now comes the «steal» of the signed double-facer, which is very bold, because it is done in full view! Hold the deck face-up in dealing position in the right hand. Spread through the cards (leaving the face down card outjogged) and whenever you come to an king, remove it from the spread and lay it onto the table (fig. 1621 show this whole procedure). The king directly under the face down card is the double-facer, so be careful not to flash the other side with the signed selection whilst removing this card from the spread! 7


All four kings are now face-up on the table. Square the deck, still leaving the face down card outjogged and place it to the side for the moment. Arrange the kings so that the double-facer comes to the second position from the face of the packet. You will now show appearantly all the faces and backs of the kings, using the well known «Olram Count», thereby hiding the side with the signed selection. Hold the packet in dealing position in the right hand (face-up). Thumb off the top card into the waiting left hand (fig. 22 and 23). Turn both hands to show the backs (fig. 24), then turn the hands again and

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lay the left hand card onto the table. Onto this, thumb the top card of the right hand packet (fig. 25). Repeat the same procedure with the remaining two cards (fig. 26 and 27). The card in the right hand goes on top the two kings on the table, with the card in the left hand you scoop up all the three cards from the table, which places the double-facer again to the second position from the top (fig. 28 and 29). Now follows a very convincing sequence. Hand this packet of kings (?) face-up to a spectator and let him reverse count the cards singly onto

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the table to proof that there are only four cards. He does this and thereby reverses the order of the cards (the double-facer is now third from the face of the packet).

Get the card case and hold as shown in fig. 30. The left forefinger opens the box by pulling up the side with the halfmoon cutout. Place (or let the spectator do this) the king packet squared and face-down into the empty box (fig. 31 and 32). Close the box and put it onto the table, the side with the hidden card under the cellophane wrapping down. Have the spectator put his finger onto it. Now it is time for «vanishing» the signed selection. Most of the time I use Larry Jenning´s «Rub-ADub Vanish» (see his book «The Classical Magic of Larry Jennings» for a detailed description). So I take

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the deck, remove the protuding card and with the deck and the card perform this move. Fig. 33-38 show this excellent move in action. For those of you not being able the execute this sleight, simply put the protuding card into the face down deck and then—after the magical gesture—spread the deck in a face-up ribbon spread onto the table, to show that the signed card has vanished.

Show your hands empty and reach for the card case. Everything at this point is now «clean» and you will see many worried faces of the 11


magicians in the audience at this point. All the handling had been exceptionally clean, they can’t imagine how you propose to get the signed card into the card case. Hold the card case in such a way that the side with the hidden card faces you.

Open the box (fig. 39-44) and pull out the kings. In this action, the thumb goes onto the hidden card and pulls this one also out of the cellophane, thereby adding the card secretly to the back of the king packet (fig. 42, as seen from behind). Properly done, this looks very convincing and cannot be seen from the front.

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The card case can now be tossed onto the table, it is unprepared. Spread the face down king packet and the signed selection will appear face-up in the middle of the spread. Usually I split the 5-card-fan and let the signed selection slide face-up onto the table, being careful not to expose the other side of the double facer whilst doing this. I arrange the four kings in a square formation around the selection with the faces up—so the spectators get a nice final picture.

The effect is finished here and you could just gather up the cards, replace them in the card case and continue with something else (of course you have to be careful not to flash the other side of the doublefacer whilst doing this). OR—you continue with the second (new) phase of this routine.

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BONUS —The «Killer» Cut Finish— This ending is an additional effect I stumbled upon reading a brilliant routine of England’s Roy Johnson. It is a part of his routine «Versa Plus» and fits perfectly in here. At the finish, you end clean with an unprepared deck of cards. All you need in addition to the cards on the table is a little pair of scissors and you are ready to go. First of all, you put away the three kings not corresponding with the double-facer, so that the king and the double-facer remain on the table. Put away also the deck. The signed card lies in the center of the table. This last phase is worked with two cards only! Take the king face-

up into the left hand and use it to scoop up the signed card (doublefacer). In one continuous action, you scoop up the card from the table and turn both cards face-down. In this action, the cards are switched and

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the king is put down face-down onto the table, the other side of the double-facer showing. The figures 48-51 show this well-known switch in detail. Appareantly you have just turned the selection casually face-down. Take the scissors and proceed to cut the king (?) into four parts (fig. 5255). Be extremely careful to not flash the back of the card during this process!

When finished, take the four pieces and insert them into the empty cardbox. Please study the pictures 56-58. Note that the process of inserting the pieces into the box, the closing and putting down of the latter onto the table automatically reverses the pieces! At this stage I perform a little flourish, known as the «through-thefist-flourish» to enhace the effect of the transfomation. This is shown in the figures 58-61. Appareantly the signed selection has changed into the king! A very strong effect on the spectators.

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After a little pause pick up the card case and open it (62-64). Here it is important to keep the halfmoon side down when opening the case. Let the pieces in the case slide onto the table—the sight of the cut selection is a real shock for the spectators! Usually for the finish I hand the spectator the king and put the cut pieces into my briefcase «because the card is now spoiled anyway...» The process of cutting the card provides a logical reason for dumping the

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card at the finish, because it is «destroyed». The built-in timemisdirection assures the turning of the card case isn’t noticed, the spectator’s minds are too occupied with the change of the card in the hand. In my case— never did any spectator ask or grab for the pieces with the signed selection. Thus the routine comes to a very strong ending. Have fun!

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Alexander-de-Cova-Boxed-Transposition-2005-IncrediBooks.pdf

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