Chan Canasta Triple Card Coincidence

 

Dave Jones alerted me to another Chan Canasta video on You Tube uploaded by the discerning Gaafman. In this routine Canasta has three cards chosen by the first spectator. It's a free choice of any group of three cards from a stacked deck. In this case 9D, 5H and QS. By the way, this confirms that he is using the Eight Kings set up and a DHSC suit order as discussed in my book Chan Canasta A Remarkable Man. The spectator is invited to distribute the cards among three different pockets.

The idea of the trick is to have each spectator not only select the same three cards but also place them into the same pockets. As you can see it doesn't entirely work out. But the trick is not as risky as it first appears.

Canasta issues specific instructions to the first spectator: 'Don't look at them. Keep them flat on your hand like this. Now will you please take the first one and place it in your right hand pocket. Take one, any one, and put it into your left hand pocket.'  Although the spectator is given a choice here, Canasta still has an opportunity to spot whether he takes the top or bottom card of the two.

He then says, 'Take one, any one, and put it into your breast pocket.' There is actually only one card left. But by repeatedly using the phrase 'any one' it helps convince people that he really doesn't care where any of the cards are place. It gives an illusion of freedom of choice.

Canasta takes a second stacked deck, finds the same group of cards and forces them on to the second spectator. So far this is all standard Canasta strategy. Where it gets truly risky is when he asks the second spectator to mix up his cards and appears to give him complete freedom as to which pockets the cards are placed into.

However, consider these facts. Even if Canasta did nothing and gave the spectators complete freedom over where they placed the cards, the trick would still work one time out of six. There are only six possible combinations that three cards can be arranged in.

Better still, if Canasta can match one of those cards i.e. make the second spectator put the top card in the same pocket as the first spectator, then there is a one in two chance that the trick will work perfectly.

Unfortunately Canasta tells the second spectator to take 'any one you wish,' he does and it soon becomes impossible to follow which card is going into which pocket. I am not sure if, knowing that the top card is not in the right pocket, it is now better for Canasta to encourage the spectators to mix up all the cards. Maybe this reduces his one is six chance of a random miracle to one in four. Someone more mathematically minded might be able to answer this. Canasta certainly seems to realise that all is not well and asks them to mix the cards around, possibly hoping for a one in six miracle.

I think if Canasta had kept his head and clearly told the second spectator to put the top card (not 'any one you wish') into the right hand pocket, then he might have succeeded in bringing about the desired coincidence of identical cards being placed in matching pockets.

Canasta worked several different versions of the Cards and Pockets routine some of which I discussed in the Canasta book. It's a fascinating effect, capable of many variations, and one that I think could be very strong in the hands of the right performer.

NEWMAN MOND CUTS THE ACES

Jon Racherbaumer emailed to say that the previous post about Newman Mond reminded him of an Eddie Field’s stunt. Eddie would shoot a ball across the pool table so that it hit a deck of cards, cutting it into two packets right at the selection. This was a version of Sleight of Foot, the trick in which a few grains of salt are secretly placed above the selected card so that the deck will separate at that point when kicked. It is the first trick in The Encyclopedia of Card Tricks and the originator was Herbert Milton.

Well, on the British Pathe website there is footage of Newman Mond doing a similar trick. He shuffles a deck of cards before placing it in the middle of the billiard table. Then he shoots a cue ball across the table so that it strikes the deck. The impact separates the deck in to four piles, each with an ace at the face. It’s an impressive looking trick.

One notable aspect is the shuffling of the deck. It makes me think that perhaps Newman Mond wasn’t using the old salt method. He might have used slick cards, Will de Seive gimmicks or, as Racherbaumer suggests, breather crimps to ensure that the packets separate. Any pool players out there might want to try a few experiments.

Using Ask Alexander at the Conjuring Arts Research Center I discovered that Newman Mond was the pseudonym of A N Redmond, described in The World’s Fair as ‘the originator of magic on the billiards table.’ In 1937 he was secretary of The Bolton Magic Circle in England. If anyone has any other information about A N Redmond aka Newman Bond, please get in touch.

POOL CARDSHARK

This is an odd trick. You are at the pool table and decide to show a card trick. A pack of cards is spread over the table and one is chosen. It is replaced and the deck stood on a small block of wood, held there by a bulldog clip. The deck is then placed at one end of the table and you stand at the other, pool cue in hand. You aim the cue at one of the balls on the table then, POW! The ball shoots across the baize, strikes the deck and a card jumps right out. And yes, it is the selected card.

I saw this trick on an old piece of archive film when searching for footage of magic acts for a TV series. At that time I had no idea who the performer was but I’ve since discovered he was a trickshot billiards player by the name of Newman Mond. He wrote a booklet on trickshots entitled Tricks on the Billiard Table. You can see archive of this particular trick at the British Pathe website. Just search for Newman Mond. It’s a great trick and one that shouldn’t be forgotten.

The method is merely my supposition of what happened. Newman Mond had a gimmicked pair of cards in the deck with a piece of elastic stretched between them. This is an old gimmick used to work the rising card effect. David Devant described it in one of his books for the public and also an article in The Strand magazine in 1901.

When the selected card is replaced in the deck it goes into the gimmick and forces the elastic down around it. Usually you have to apply pressure to keep the card there but in this case the bulldog clip does the trick. It is of the large type, big enough to grip the narrow end of the deck in its jaws. And it is fixed to the top of a block of wood so that it will stand upright, jaws skyward and with the deck sitting in them. The handles of the jaws project at the front and rear of the wooden block.

When the cue ball is hit, it strikes the handle of the bulldog clip with enough force to momentarily open it. This releases pressure on the deck and the elastic causes the selected card to fly out. That’s pretty much it but it will take some experimenting to make up a gimmick that works well. If the bulldog clip is too strong, the jaws won’t open.

One of the things that struck me about the footage was the way Newman Mond casually spread the deck over the table so that a card could be selected. It seemed so open and without the usual telltale finesse of the magician. Of course, as television magicians know, an edit before the vital shot always helps.

If you are looking for a more subtle way of making the card rise from the deck, and one that will work with this routine, try my Angel Card Rise Plus.