$12.50
Issue 14
LVMI
Series 15 LVMI Issue
Vol 4
H o f z i n s e r ’ s A r i s t o c r at s not the patter, but the spirit B y and
S y d S e g a l Ko s t ya K i m l at
It is said that ‘mysteries are unraveled,’ So as magicians and creators of mysteries, we are the spiders – the ‘ravelers.’ But immersed in the act of weaving, we neglect the birds-eye view. Our webs lose symmetry and majesty. Obsessed with technique and lost in endless modification, we forget about the affect of the effect on our audiences. Such has become of the Hofzinser Ace Problem, which – through hundreds of published variations – has left the realm of poetry and more closely resembles a Rorschach print. Most published variations of Hofzinser’s problem (13 great ones along with a bibliography appearing in the second issue of Antinomy magazine) have focused on improvements of method, but not of strength, artistry or mystery. This version of Hofzinser’s problem is our attempt to harmonize method with magic and to introduce Mr.Hofzinser to polite lay society. The method would never have been raveled up if it wasn’t for my friend, Syd Segal, calling with the brilliant suggestion: “Why not use the Ackerman palm unloading move for the Hofzinser problem?” This was a wonderful beginning. Adding an introductory phase to the routine was also a significant improvement – the first phase sets the standard for what the audience is about to see and it conditions the audience to fully appreciate the magic when it happens. The method is sound; the effect technically solid. But more important, after much tweaking and many performances for the general public, this is also a strong piece of performance card magic – one that fools and entertains.
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The technique is difficult, but direct. I’ll run through it briefly so that you feel comfortable with the method and can then take on the full web of the effect: Four aces are taken out of the deck. Before they are tabled, one of them is stolen back to the top of the deck, face-down. The suit of that ace is mentally noted. The other three aces are squared up and laid face-up onto the table. A card is selected – the only requirement is that it matches the stolen ace by suit. (I prefer to turn the deck face-up for the selection process, carefully noting which ace is on the bottom via a buckle, and then classic forcing a card of the same suit.) Once the card is selected, the magician takes it back in his right hand as the deck is flipped face-down in the left. A spectator is asked to place her hand out. As she does so, the selection is top changed for the ace. The spectator is given the ace to hold onto, believing it to be the selection. The selection is top-palmed off of the top of the deck into the right hand. This hand, still palming the card, tables the deck.
Syd’s Choreography of the Ackerman move (“The Esoterist” 1971, pp40-41): Both hands, palm-down, now move toward the tabled aces. The left hand goes first, the fingertips contacting the top ace and moving it to the left. (Fig.1) The right hand immediately comes over and the fingertips contact the second ace, moving it to the right. The instant the fingertips touch the ace, the palmed card is dropped off, landing face-down onto the remaining ace. (Fig.2) The left hand comes over and moves the face-down card slightly to the left, now all four cards are spread out in a row. (Fig.3) Point out that the face-down ‘ace’ shares suit with their selection. Then snap your fingers, and turn over the ‘ace’ to show it has changed into their selection. Allow them to flip the card in their hand over and discover the ace! Great method, great trick. But there is one great problem: the magic happens too fast
Fig.1
Fig.1.1
Fig.2
Fig.3
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and the effect is not clear. Why the ace turns face-down is never explained and the magic of it turning over is instantly overshadowed by the transposition of the cards. Here, then, is the full method – via two phases – that has been developed:
P h a s e I : The Bold Conditioning Phase Take the shuffled deck and spread the cards face-up. As you out-jog the four Kings (or queens or jacks), cull all the cards of one suit, let’s say spades, to the bottom of the deck. (this, coincidentally, appears in Racherbaumer’s column in Antinomy 2) Strip out the four kings with the right hand. As you fan them out with the right hand, the left hand performs a Charlier cut to center the twelve spade cards. Explain to the spectators why the Kings are important. You can talk about the King’s power and omnipotence in relation to the deck. Or you can tell them that it is the four queens who, like the mothers of the deck, know where each of their children is hiding at any point in time. You can talk about Alexander – the man who knows, about the fantastic four, the rising cost of oil, your rousing need for Tequila, Jungian archetypes, lamps or not a thing at all. “Here are four Jacks” is oft as dramatic as us, card-men, can be. Whatever you say, involving the audience never hurts (except for bullet-catching). Allow them to get excited about this once in a lifetime opportunity to see the handsome group of fantastic-four in action. As you talk, perform a half-pass with the bottom king, noting its suit before you do. We’ll use a king of hearts. Turn the deck face-up and spread it so the faces are toward you. Find the two or the three whose suit matches the face-down king and get a pinky break below it. This is done semi-casually as you explain that you will have one card selected and the Kings will be able to identify its exact identity.
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Bring the cards down so the audience can see the faces and ask someone to just touch a card. “Just touch any card, it doesn’t really matter at all.” Classic force the card onto the spectator. If they don’t go for the classic force, then just ignore the card they touch, continue spreading, say “we can use any one, really” and up-jog your card. It’s a funny moment if this happens, but it is actually not a bad thing. The fact that you openly ignored the spectator’s choice will later be the reason for going into the second phase. Ask the spectator to place their hand out and take the selection between their finger and thumb, facedown. Have them hold the selection above the kings, essentially “showing the selection to the kings.” (Fig.4) “I know they seem like simple cardboard creatures, but you’ll be amazed at what they’re about to do.” Fig.4
Spread out the tabled kings, mimicking the Ackerman move which will be used in the second phase: use your left hand to move the top king to your far left, the right hand to move the second king to the right and come back with the right hand to move the third king a bit to the left, exposing the face-down king, leaving it in it’s spot. (See Fig.3) “Notice that the king that has turned face-down has the same suit that your card has! And not only that…but it’s the second King in position (in the row), therefore it knows exactly what your cards is! The two of hearts! How incredible is that!?!” The spectators will be completely unimpressed. The more excited you act about the weak magic that just occurred, the funnier the situation will be.
With your right hand pick up the face-down selection that the spectator had been holding, and bring it over to the left hand. (Fig. 5) The copped king, face-up, gets aligned with the face-down selection. The two Fig.5 Spectator’s view cards, as one, are taken by the right hand in Biddle grip and replaced onto the face-down deck that has been sitting on the table.
Phase II: Where all the magic happens… slowly, clearly, deliberately...
Fig.5 Magi’s view As the spectators mumble their approval of the incredible powers that the kings possess, you casually pick up the four kings, bringing the king of spades (the one that matches the suit of the 12 card block in the deck) to the bottom. Get the king in gambler’s cop as you drop the other three face-up as a stack onto the table. I prefer to tip my shoulders back and grin here, as if I’m still really impressed by what happened. Then, realizing what the spectators are thinking, my facial expression slowly changes, and I verbally admit that perhaps it wasn’t that impressive… yet!
Now pick up the deck and tell the spectators that this time, they get to choose which card is to be picked. (Now you can see why it is okay if you blatantly miss the face-up classic force earlier). This time, they will surely be impressed! Spread the cards face-down. Break the spread approximately above where your block of spade-cards should be, taking half of the spread in each hand. Turn your hands palm-down so you can see the faces (this is actually a technique used by British magician, Mark Mason, for his classic force). Breaking the spread allows you to see where you are in relation to your block. A quick glance is all you need. Turn your hands back up, and spread the cards so that the block of spades is spread out wide, allowing the spectator to freely choose one of only those twelve cards. Square up the cards and get a break below the second card from the top. Take back the selection from the spectator with the right hand. You are now going to execute the “Undercover Turnover” (Kimlat, “Card Work – Card Play, 2002”). This is a move based on Ken Krenzel’s Slide-Under Switch or Barry Issue 14 Channel One Magazine
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Price’s Stealth Switch, except that it uses only one card. While it may seem difficult to execute at first, you will find it requires just the right touch to ensure that the cards are aligned perfectly during the turnover.
Undercover Turnover What essentially happens is, as the right hand brings the face-up selection over to the deck, the left hand’s pinky kicks the face-up king out to the right. This kick-out happens under the cover of the top face-down card. Fig. 6 The face-up king gets aligned with the face-up selection and they are turned over face-down onto the deck. The top card is thumbed off and the spectator is asked to extend his hand as before. The selection has now been cleanly switched out for a king, which is handed to the spectator to hold. Because you conditioned the spectator to hold the selection in the first phase, you can have no worries as she ‘shows’ the selection to the ‘four’ kings sitting on the table. (See Fig. 4) Once she has done so, focus all of your attention on the kings for the rest of the phase and you can rest assured that the spectator will not jump ahead of you, and you will climax together. As the spectator waves the selection, you can exclaim “Yes, they’ve got it!” and move your hands forward to the tabled packet just as in phase I. This time, however, you actually execute the Ackerman move. Remember: the left hand moves its king to the left, then the right hand follows. As soon as the right hand’s fingertips contact the face of the tabled king, the palmed card is released onto the table. As the card falls, the right hand moves the King to the right. This simultaneous action creates the illusion that the face-down card was underneath the king and came into view the second that the King was moved. (See Fig.1-3) Once the move has been done you should have four cards in a row, the spectator’s selection face-down among the other three face-up kings.
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Fig.6 Do not rush the final revelation. Actually allow the spectators to be impressed by the fact that they could have picked any card they wanted, and the king that matches that suit has now turned face-down. Allow them to be impressed… because it is impressive. Then add a bit of comedy, if you wish, thus: Start counting up to the value of the selection, pointing to the kings one at a time. Since in phase I the selection was a two or a three and the face-down king was in second or third position, respectively, then logically the same thing should happen now. As you count out loud and point, you can mentally jump ahead and see whether you’re going to land on the face-down card at the end or not. If you do land on it, as you finish counting
up to the value of the selection, the magic is even stronger. If you think ahead and see that you will be off by one, then pause a few beats before you finish counting, re-arrange the cards accordingly, and proceed with the counting. Doing this in the open is quite funny, and although it is disarming at this point in the routine, if presented at the right time, it acts as a nice set-up for the climax about to come. Once you’ve counted and impressed the spectators even more, let just enough seconds go by before you go for the final revelation. This is crucial: you don’t want to step on the magic that just occurred, but you don’t want to lose their attention. After performing this a few dozen times, you’ll get a sense of the right timing. “I know you’re not completely impressed…I can see doubt in your eyes. So here, the kings will prove for certain how they know the identity of your card.” Snap your fingers and turn over the ‘king’ to show it has transformed into the selection. Allow them to turn the card in their hand over and see the king. They will freak. This is a very strong and magical moment. Although there is a lot of by-play before the final climax occurs, the play is not wasteful: it has magic, comedy, and psychological conditioning that strengthens the second phase.
A f t e r t h o u g h t : I can tell you right now one thing that would make this method even better: if the second card were not to be seen by the magician. The fact that not even the magician knows the identity of the selection would certainly add to the impossibility of the king turning face-down. However…this would require a top change, and I don’t think there is a good time for that in the routine. I believe the Undercover Turnover is a much cleaner method, albeit more difficult. There’s no doubt you can get away with forcing the card face-down and then top changing it, but if the top change is not done on a total off-beat, I believe the
spectators, doubting it’s identity, would want to turn the card over before it was time for the revelation. It’s always worth a try, though, isn’t it?
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The Ackerman move was taught to me by Jon Armstrong and B.J.Bueno. The way the move is used here, it more closely resembles a gambler’s move, shown to me by Jason England and mentioned by Vernon on the Revelation tapes. Syd had the brilliant idea of using the palm unloading to solve the Hofzinser problem. The method was worked out with Syd at the Magic Castle in the summer of 2004. It was further tweaked through performances over the next year. Credit goes to my great friend, Olga, for the title. P.S. Call us, Allen! We need the name of that move!
Biography Kostya and Syd are actually two of the more unique performing teams in magic. Yes I said teams. While most know them for their innovative close up magic, they are far better known in the world of Professional Wresling! Yes! They are FreeByrd! The WLW Wrestling champions! Seen here after they defeated the Czech team of Patrick and the Mauler.
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