A Joe Berg Mystery

The following trick is from the March 1929 issue of The Sphinx. And the reason it is published here for several reasons. First because it presents something of a mystery. Second because it could be seen as an early version of the Premonition effect. And third because of its relationship to Ben Harris Crossroads effect, which I think is worth documenting.

BERG'S CARD EFFECT

EFFECT: Performer requests a spectator to choose either the red or the black cards, if red to choose Diamonds or Hearts, if black to choose Clubs or Spades. After the suit is selected the spectator is asked to call for any of the thirteen cards of that suit. Performer removes a pack of cards from a case and requests the spectator to shuffle them.

The performer now states that he will cause the selected or called card to vanish from the deck and appear in his pocket, immediately the performer reaches into his trouser pocket and removes the card called for. The pocket is shown to be empty.

THE MYSTERY: The description above is taken directly from The Sphinx. The mystery comes when you read the method because, unfortunately, not all the method is described. The text finishes abruptly leaving some details unrevealed. I presume some copy got lost in the edit. However, here is the method as described.

SECRET:  Remove thirteen cards of any suit you wish from a deck, arrange them in order from Ace to King and place them in your right trouser pocket. Now you may force the suit in the usual way, which I presume you are familiar with. Have spectator call for any card of the suit forced. As soon as the card is called remove remove the balance of the pack from the card case and hand it to be shuffled. While the spectator is shuffling the cards your 

COMMENTS: And there the explanation finishes. I presume that Berg located the card named and extracted it from the packet, perhaps putting it on top. This is done as the spectator shuffles the deck. He then palms the cards from his pocket, leaving the called card behind, and adds them to the deck. The result being that after a little more shuffling (to mix the forced suit into the other cards) he could show that the named card had vanished and then reproduce it from an otherwise empty pocket.

This is pure speculation but it seems to be the best way forward although it does leave some questions unanswered especially when it comes to giving the spectator a deck with thirteen cards missing

I checked a lot of Joe Berg material and found that he was fond of tricks in which several cards had been removed from the deck prior to the effect. And he has other tricks in which he palmed from a stack hidden in the pocket. At Ask Alexander there is an instruction sheet The Card Mysterious - Joe Berg. It is an any card at any number trick in which a spectator is invited to call out any Heart card. And then any number from 1 to 50. Berg already has duplicate suit of Hearts in his pocket. The spectator deals the chosen number of cards into Berg's hand and Berg merely palms out the named card from his pocket and drops it on top of the dealt heap to reveal the card at the chosen number. There are some similarities to Berg's Card Effect  i.e. working with a single suit and having thirteen cards in the pocket.

Berg's magic was usually very practical which is why I'm not inclined to dismiss this particular trick as an unworkable pipedream. Handling a spectator a 39 card deck does seem bold but given that only one person, the shuffler, would notice the discrepancy you might just get away with it. And the clever idea of forcing a suit to narrow down the selection possibilities is worth noting as an early nod in the direction of Ben Harris' Crossroads effect.

One additional idea, and maybe this was in the original text, is to palm the card from the trouser pocket and produce it from the jacket pocket. Or better still load it into a wallet. To prove the card missing from the deck he is asked to remove it. He can't and you produce it from your pocket.

Another idea is to reduce the number of cards that are missing from the deck. If you offer a choice between 1 and 10 when calling for the value of a card, you only need eight cards in the pocket. Add a couple of jokers to the deck and it won't feel quite so light as it did in the original trick.

In another effect Joe Berg had an interesting idea for arranging cards when in the pocket. Instead of stacking them in order, you stack them, with the odd cards on one side of the packet and the even cards on the other side. Both in numerical order. The idea is to make the named card easier to count to.

With only eight cards you might have, say, the 1, 2, 3, 4 of the suit from the top of the packet. And the 5, 6, 7, 8 in numerical order from the bottom of the packet. I think it's a touch worth knowing about.

NOTES: One source I have not checked is David Avadon's The Berg Book.  If anyone out there has a copy I'd be delighted to hear about similar material to Berg's Card Effect.

Premonition Paradox

EFFECT: A spectator selects a card and then takes the deck. He gives it a couple of cuts and is invited to guess at what position his card lies. If he guesses correctly, a big prize is promised. The performer taps the wallet in his pocket, hinting at the reward.

'But first, just so that there is no cheating, what's the name of your card?' The spectator names the card, the Six of Spades. 'Okay. And what number do you think it lies in the deck.' The spectator is holding the deck face-up. He can see it's not the first card. So he guesses 27. 'Good. Now I'll give you an option. You can't change the number. You can't change your card. But you can cut the deck. Do you want to cut the deck or leave it the way it is?' It's a free choice. The spectator decides to cut the deck.

'So we're looking for the Six of Spades,' says the performer. 'Let's see if it is at position 27.' The spectator deals the cards face-up one at a time onto the table. Alas, the Six of Spades is not at the 27th position. The spectator continues counting and finds that the Six of Spades is not in the deck at all. And there are only 51 cards. The performer takes out his wallet and, of course, inside is the missing Six of Spades.

An advert could honestly claim that it's a free selection, there really are only 51 cards left at the finish, no palming is required to make the selected card disappear and yet the card in the wallet is the very same card that the spectator selected.

HISTORY: I've included this trick on the blog because it follows in the footsteps of the previously discussed The Problem With Premonition. And because I think the method is clever and has other applications. The main idea is Ed Marlo's. I've just tweaked it a bit and svengali-ised his concept. The original version was published, without a title, in Ibidem No 19 (1959). Marlo's idea enables any card to be named and then shown missing from the deck, leaving 51 cards and no duplicates (as found in variations of Premonition).

The trick uses a special deck made up of 51 double-face cards. On one side you have 51 different cards with no 10 of Diamonds. On the reverse side of every card is a 10 of Diamonds. You can see then that if any card is named all you have to do is secretly reverse it and the spectator can deal face-up through the deck and the named card would appear to be missing. Check out Ibidem for several interesting ideas that Marlo has with this deck.

The problem is that in 1959, when Marlo described this trick, a double-face deck made up in this way did not exist. However, since that time Piatnik Cards did put out just such a deck. And you can still get them. I got a deck just the other day from the Bond Agency. They are Piatnik Double Faces Special. Ref No 13061. You can buy matching decks.

Possibly unknown to Marlo is that the idea of a double-face deck constructed in this way is Hofzinser's and was part of his Thought routine described in Hofzinser's Card Conjuring. Maybe more on that in the future because it too is a very clever idea and uses the deck in a different way. But, for now, here is my version of Marlo's trick.

METHOD: The deck in this instance is made up of 26 ordinary cards and 25 of the special double-facers. The ordinary cards are all trimmed short, as with a Svengali Deck, and then alternated with the double-facers.

You now have a deck of 51 cards that on one side shows 51 different faces and no 10 of Diamonds. The other side of the deck alternates regular backs and 10 of Diamonds.

You also need a Le Paul or Kaps style wallet that you can secretly palm a card into. Here is the routine.

1: Spread the deck with the faces towards the spectators. It appears ordinary. Turn it face-down and dribble cards from the right hand into the left, as you would with a Svengali Deck, asking the spectator to call stop. Because of the Svengali Deck principle the cards fall in pairs, the backs of the regular cards hiding the upper sides of the double-facers.

2: When the spectator calls stop, halt the dribble and raise the right hand packet toward him so that he can see the face of the card. He remembers the card.

3: As you bring the hands together, to replace the upper half of the deck on the lower half, secretly reverse the selection. Marlo suggested you use the Buckley Reverse. But you can get away with a less sophisticated method as you patter. As the hands come together the left fingers can press against the face of the selection and slide it to the right. The outer right corner of the selection can now be clipped between the third and fourth finger of the right hand and quickly flipped over. With enough misdirection there are even simpler handlings you can use to turn the card over.

4: Turn the deck face-up and give it several cuts before handing it to the spectator. Make sure he sees that your hands are empty when you give him the deck. By now you have begun to explain your proposition and the reward for him correctly guessing the position of the card.

5: The spectator names his card, cuts the deck if he wishes, and then deals them face-up one at a time onto the table only to discover that the card has disappeared. That's the first part of the effect finished.

6: Pick up the deck and as you talk casually locate the only 10 of Diamonds that is showing. You noted roughly where it was as he dealt through the cards. Now all you have to do is palm out this card and sneak it into your Le Paul wallet. No one is looking for a palm at this point. The card has already cleanly disappeared. Bring out the wallet as if to show the reward he missed out on and then remove the double-facer with the correct side showing to finish. I like the paradox that the palm takes place long after the card has disappeared. It makes for a good dealer advert!

The original idea of Marlo's is great but I didn't like the thought of not showing the backs of the cards before the selection disappeared. Hence the addition of the Svengali Deck principle which I don't think takes away too much from the theoretically any-card-named selection that is part of the original.

NOTES: If you don't want to use Piatnik Cards you can make this trick up with regular double-facers. The deck will still have 51 different faces on one side. However, when the selection is reversed it will leave one duplicate card in the deck. Arrange the deck so that the duplicates are not near each other when the cards are dealt onto the table. Given that there are a couple of dozen duplicates in a regular Premonition, you shouldn't have much trouble getting away with just one.

Locating the selection for the palm after the disappearance will require a little more work. A simple card stack would be one way to go and enable you to pick out the correct duplicate card. Those who really want to baffle their peers might consider a version in which the selected card (a double-facer) is signed by the spectator. I think that would throw magicians off the scent.

Annemann's Nightmares

I was curious about the origin of the gimmicked card used in Paul Curry’s The Joker Knows. (See the November 15th 2009 entry on this blog). With the help of Ask Alexander I found Charles Jordan’s Spook Card (1916). Jordan credited the gimmicked card to Ford Rogers who used it in his 'Ever Ready' Forcing Pack. Jordan used the gimmick in a version of Hardin’s Prince’s Card Trick in which a thought of card vanished from a packet. All the cards in the packet were double cards prepared as in the Ever Ready Forcing Pack (see Greater Magic or Donald Holmes' manuscript Tricks With Prepared Cards.

Annemann acknowledged the Jordan idea in an advert for his Annemann’s Nightmare effect which he advertised in The Sphinx in 1928. Here is the advert. The method is the same as that used in The Problem with Premonition:

NOW BORROW THEIR OWN DECK AFTER THEY SHUFFLE. Have them remove a card which they place in their pocket without glimpsing. Now riffle deck, face up, and stop at their command. TELL THEM TO LOOK AT THE CARD IN SIGHT AND TO REMEMBER. IMMEDIATELY HAND THEM THE DECK WITHOUT A MOVE OR SLEIGHT. They deal the pack through a card at a time and THE CARD THEY SAW IS GONE! AND THIS WITH THEIR OWN DECK IN THEIR OWN HANDS! Ask them what it was. They tell you. Then you prove THEY WERE DREAMING, because UPON LOOKING THEMSELVES THEY FIND THAT VERY CARD WAS THE ONE THEY PLACED IN THEIR POCKET!

There are two key points. One is that the force is made with the deck face-up because the rear card of the pair is the shorter of the two. And the second is that Annemann adds the gimmicked card to a borrowed deck. Since the cards are only handled face up, the different back is never noticed. Oh, and at the beginning of the routine he forces the regular card on the spectator, of course.

Annemann returned to the effect in The Jinx (Issue 7, April 1935). It has a great presentation idea which I think is worth knowing about. Here is Annemann’s description of his New Nightmare:

Writing something on the face of a card from the deck in place of paper, the performer hands it to someone to hold for a few minutes without looking at it. Riffling through the face up pack, another person says, ‘stop’ at any time and looks at the card staring them in the face. They are asked to remember it well.

The deck is closed and without a move placed on the table. Turning, the performer asks the first person to read the writing on the card. ‘The card chosen will be the Three of Clubs.’ The prophecy is correct! Now the performer says he has gone further. The deck is dealt through a card at a time face up and the Three of Clubs is gone. ‘And where is it?’ queries the mystic. ‘I made it change places with the card I originally wrote upon!’ And the first spectator shows the card he has been holding from the start and from which he read the writing AND IT IS THE THREE OF CLUBS!

I’m not keen on the face-up riffle force but Annemann uses it so that the force card of the pair is the shorter of the two and better hidden. I think that the second card is very easy to hide in The Problem with Premonition even though it is the longer card of the gimmicked pair. However, I love the idea of giving the spectator a card at the beginning of the trick on which you’ve written a prediction. And having him first read out prediction but only later revealing that it is actually the card.

It might be better to force a red spot card so that the writing can read more easily. You need to control the assisting spectator so that they don’t reveal the card until you are ready. And I think it would be a good idea to have the spectator who selected the card to try to guess the position of the card in the deck as a reason for dealing through it and delaying the surprise. But other than that, Annemann is a genius!

NOTES: Just found Annemann's A Day-Time Nightmare described in Annemann's Card Miracles (1930) as published by Burling Hull. Also there is The Eye-Popper Card Feat which uses the Rogers' gimmick in an Ambitious Card trick.

The Harbin Effect

Thinking about impossible think-a-card tricks, The Berglas Effect and Premonition, put me in mind of an article I wrote back in 2002 for Stan Allen’s Magic magazine. It was called Tricks of Faith and dealt with tricks that either didn’t exist or didn’t work. In the article I briefly mentioned one trick of Robert Harbin’s as possibly being apocryphal, mainly because I couldn’t remember where I’d heard about it. But thanks to Martin Breese and his work in making digital compilations of magic magazines available I can now tell you that Harbin's trick was published in the Magigram magazine. Vol 12, number 1 for September 1979 to be exact.

By the way, the Magigram dvd is a wonderful resource. I’ve spent hours browsing through it and found the most amazing material. You’ll even find some early contributions from yours truly in those pages. So consider this a plug and well meant advice and pick up a copy of the Magigram dvd direct from Martin Breese or from Lybrary.com where it is available as a volume by volume download.

But back to the Harbin Effect. This is what Stanton Carlisle called Harbin’s technique, if that’s not too clever a word for what seems blind hope, for making a spectator think of a predetermined card. With Martin Breese’s permission, I’ll let Stanton Carlisle tell the story:

Some years ago, Bob Harbin was discussing one of his ingenious Ideas with a group of magicians and the majority present 'pooh - poohed' the very suggestion, but I pricked up my ears for I realised that what Bob was referring to was ‘the mentative thought process’ which anyone acquainted with psychology, metaphysics, mysticism or any other form of mind-science would readily understand.

Although both Arthur Carter and I discussed this separately with Bob when things had quietened down again, I am not sure whether Bob ever published the idea because of the initial reception as mentioned above. Whether or not he did, it is worth perpetuating for not only have I used it for a long while now with great effect but, after a period of time, I came to the conclusion that although his original idea was most practical, it could, by more usual magical means be developed into something even more staggering. Like most good ideas, this did not come to me in a f1ash of inspiration but gradually evolved over several years.

Bob's original idea will be described first and then my addition; but first, read this true story (which arose out of Bob's idea) and then read the secret. Then I feel you will be in a more receptive state of mind to appreciate the real secret behind the effect. In addition to this, the people concerned in the following can all vouch for its authenticity!

A few years ago when still living In London, I was in bed awaiting admission to hospital and about lunchtime the telephone rang stridently and, having an extension by the bed, I picked It up to hear the friendly voice of our editor, Ken de Courcy. After some cheer-up chatter, Ken mentioned an Idea he had had and in his description used the words, " ... supposing, for instance they choose THE' TEN OF DIAMONDS.. ". Before ringing off, he had exacted a promise from me to 'give it some thought' and this is not an unusual thing between Ken and I and it works both ways!

At approximately half-past three the same afternoon, the phone rang again and it was Arthur Carter who had no idea that Ken and I had previously conversed that day but did, like me, use Bob's idea. After saying, hello, etc and enquiring after my health his next words were, ''Does THE TEN OF DIAMONDS mean anything to you?" and I assured him that it did; that Ken had conversed with me earlier and, without telling Arthur what Ken's idea was, mentioned that it was a coincidence that Ken had mentioned THAT VERY CARD. "Good" said Arthur, "but I had an idea that it might because I am trying The Harbin Effect over the phone". After some discussion we ended the chat and that I thought was that.

Somewhere about five o 'clock that day I pulled open the drawer of the headboard which is situated directly under the telephone, and there, laying on top of a book was a playing card I had been using as a book-mark until finishing the book when I dropped it where it now laid ... THE TEN OF DIAMONDS!

Knowing 'The Harbin Effect' and realising that UNWITTINGLY I must have been looking at and sub-consciously registering that card for several days, I rang both Ken and Arthur and checked that they had not been in touch with each other and told both of them the story you have just read. Arthur knew as already explained but Ken did not so I explained it to him.

What I am now revealing for the first time is my version which I have jealously kept to myself and never presented to magicians anywhere or at any time. Now as this is an effect that can only be presented when the occasion is right (as will soon be realised) let us start with ‘The Harbin Effect’ as he devised it and used it.

Take ANY card from your deck and place it in a wallet ... any wallet you normally carry!

For about three days keep taking it out and looking at it and by so doing, 'imprint it indelibly in your conscious mind.' By a sort of osmosis type of action, this will then 'seep down into your subconscious mind' quite automatically. Having done that ... forget about it!

By this is meant that after some three days you need not bother about it and just let it stay in the wallet. Within a day or two of that someone who knows you are a magician is bound to ask you to “Show us a trick" and this is what you wait for. Under NO circumstances must you attempt to demonstrate it ... wait until you are asked!!

The wallet with its card is in the usual pocket, but you take out the deck it came from and toss it on a convenient surface and then ask the spectator to "Please name the first card that comes into your mind" and, truth being stranger than fiction, IF YOU TRULY BELIEVE HE WILL NAME THE CARD IN THE WALLET THEN HE WILL! I don't mean if you merely 'think' or 'wish' him to do so, but HONESTLY BELIEVE THAT HE WILL.

If he does, mention that the deck is already on the table and, letting it be seen that your hands are empty, remove your wallet and toss it on the table beside the deck. He is then asked to open the wallet and finds the card HE HAS JUST NAMED. It gets better because he can check the deck and find it has but 51 cards and that the card in the wallet is the one card needed to complete the deck.

For those who are still sceptical (and there will always be some of those), let me state that the more you do it THE MORE OFTEN IT COMES OFF! Practice really does make perfect and I can see readers like Tony 'Doc' Shiels and E. Leslie May having 'a field day with it'.

I estimate that it is a 90% trick, so what of the other 10% if they don't name THE card? Just do any effective trick you know with the card they name. From presenting this over a long period, I use the card in an 'Ambitious Card Routine' for good effect.

Having a general understanding now of 'The Harbin Effect, and space does not allow me to go into all the reasons why this works, always go out prepared to do it, BUT ONLY IF ASKED!

This is like most Harbinesque ideas a WINNER , but only for those who can understand the basic effect and believe in it.

Stanton then went on to describe his own handling of the Harbin Effect, one in which he has an out so that he can present a decent mental effect even if the spectator fails to name the predicted card. Which I’d have thought would be pretty damn often. Having said that, I think it makes a great story dressing for any trick of this type. If Harbin believed it, then maybe your audience will too.

NOTES: Robert Farrell emailed to say that this effect of Harbin's was also mentioned in Abracadabra magazine and republished in Harbincadabra. He's right, check out page 99 of Harbincadabra for an article by Robert Lund. Lund talks about Harbin's belief in telepathy and his explanation of this trick:

Take any card out of a deck and look at it hard. Put it in your wallet, purse, pocket book or whatever you colonials call it and, at odd times, think about it.

Choose a moment among friends when you have been doing a few tricks and when you have noticed a man or woman who believes you have something extra - you can feel this - turn to the person and say you want to try something. Take out your wallet and place it in full view.

In this wallet (you patter) I have put a card I selected this morning. Now look me in the eye. In a moment I want you to tell me what it is,. We will count down together. Ten, nine, eight, seven.... and then immediately say the name of any playing card that comes into your head. I want you to try to think of nothing a t all. Make your mind a blank. Now count with me - ten, nine, eight...

When you reach one say, 'Now! Name the card.'

It works for me every time, but only among friends and only when we have become serious about the possibility of some sort of mental magic, when the time is opportune and there is a feeling in the air.

Lund goes on to say that Zina Bennett had a similar belief that carrying a card about in his pocket for several days enabled him to do a miracle.

I like the counting down presentation that Harbin employs. It's tempting to think that this could be part of some psychological process of getting the spectator to think of a specific card. I'll leave that thought with you.

The Problem With Premonition

In Premonition (as popularised by Eddie Joseph) the effect is that any named card is revealed to be missing from the deck. In theory it presents an interesting challenge to the cardician. And has a similar appeal to other card problems like ACAAN and The Trick That Cannot Be Explained. In reality you hardly ever see the trick performed, possibly because counting through a deck to reveal that only 51 cards remain and that none of them is the named card might be thought a tedious and illogical way of demonstrating your powers of prognostication. Nevertheless, the effect is thought provoking and the following thoughts were provoked during some correspondence with Bob Farmer about his own creative approaches to Premonition. You will have to wait for Bob Farmer’s unique solutions but meanwhile here is my cheap and cheerful twist on the plot.

EFFECT: The performer takes out a small sealed envelope and places it in his breast pocket, projecting so that it is always on display. A deck of cards is introduced and one selected. The deck is immediately handed to the spectator for shuffling. ‘Shuffle the cards. Good. Now you know the name of your card but you have no idea where it is in the deck. Right?’ Now think carefully and give me a number from 1 to 52.’

The spectator chooses, for example, 23.

‘Now it would be incredible if your card was the 23^rd in the deck. Let’s check.’ The performer takes the deck and counts through the cards, dealing them face-up into a pile on the table. When he reaches the 23^rd card he asks the spectator to name his card. He does, the Five of Spades. The performer slowly turns the 23^rd card over. It is not the Five of Spades.’

‘Oh! Interesting. Did we pass it?’ The performer spreads the face-up dealt cards across the table. The Five of Spades isn’t there. ‘It must still be here.’ He continues dealing and counting through the cards. There are only 51 cards in the deck. The Five of Spades has disappeared.

The performer picks up the envelope from the table. Inside is a playing card, the Five of Spades. ‘What was the number you chose?’ The spectator reminds everyone that it was 23. The performer turns over the Five of Spades. On the back is written the number 23.

METHOD: I realise this plays fast and loose with the Premonition plot but it was Premonition which inspired the routine. The trick came about while trying to find a motivation for the counting through the deck. Here the counting seems to be justified even if the trick is the disappearance of a selected card rather than the premonition of a thought-of card.

It is actually a revamp of a trick from Paul Curry’s Magicians Magic called The Joker Knows. That trick used a gimmick to affect a vanish and the same gimmick is used in this trick too. It is made of two cards glued together at the bottom edge. Like a pair of cards from a Peek Deck. The front card of the pair is a corner short (upper left corner when the card is facing you). The rear card is the Five of Spades which will be forced.

The envelope has a duplicate Five of Spades inside it. On the back of the card is a paper sticker. The envelope has a hole in the rear so that with a thumbwriter (a Boon or other type that you can easily put on) you can write the named number on the paper sticker. I’m sure all is becoming clear but here is the procedure step by step.

1: Take out the envelope and lay it on the table with the hole side down. Take out a pen and have someone sign the front of the envelope. This will be the sealed flap side.

2: Take out the deck. Place either the card case or Jokers on the table. Later they will provide you with an excuse for retrieving the thumbwriter which currently lies in your pocket. Give the rest of the deck a shuffle and contrive to have the gimmicked pair of cards about a third from the top of the deck. Since the front card of the pair is a corner short you can now use a riffle force to force the Five of Spades on the spectator. The selection looks very fair, he peeks a card and remembers it.

3: Give the deck to the spectator and ask him to shuffle the cards and name a number. You pick up the card case (or Jokers) and put them in your pocket, getting the thumbwriter in the process. When you know the number, pick up the pen and put it inside your jacket pocket.

Pick up the envelope and secretly write the chosen number through the window before dropping the envelope in your top pocket, leaving it projecting outwards where it can be seen. Ditch the thumbwriter in the pocket too.

The reason you pick up the envelope appears to be so you can clear the table in preparation for the dealing sequence next. But with any luck the spectators will only remember that the envelope, which is signed to prevent switching, was on view from the beginning.

4: Take the deck back and deal to the chosen number, turning each card face up before placing it on the table. Your gimmicked pair will pass as one card. In fact if the gimmicked pair is passed early on in the deal you can have the spectator deal the rest of the cards by himself.

The chosen card does not show up at the named number. So the rest of the cards are dealt leading to the discovery that there are only 51 cards in the deck. The Five of Spades has vanished. Finish by taking the envelope from your pocket and removing the duplicate Five of Spades. Then reveal the number written on the back.

NOTES: There is a lot of room for improvement in the trick but I like the plot. If you favour sleight of hand you could simply palm any chosen card from the deck, drop it into a gimmicked wallet and find a way of writing a number on the back of the card or elsewhere. The effect will be much the same.