Minds in Close Up

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MINDS IN CLOSE-UP

A Collection of Mental Mysteries using Small Accessories

by

JACK YATES

Illustrated by ROË
To Edna, my wife,
who allowed me
a few minutes of quietness
whilst compiling
these effects.
CONTENTS
FOREWORD........................................................................................................................ 5
CLIP LINE ........................................................................................................................... 6
MATCH MIRACLE .............................................................................................................. 8
DEVIL’S DIE...................................................................................................................... 10
PERFECTED PUBLICITY ................................................................................................. 13
ASTRAL DIGIT.................................................................................................................. 16
MERCHANT MENTALIST ............................................................................................... 18
WHO’S FOOLING WHOM? .............................................................................................. 21
OBJECT IN MIND............................................................................................................. 23
MURDER MOST FOUL .................................................................................................... 25
CREDITS ........................................................................................................................... 29

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FOREWORD
Although an element of mind-reading is present in each of the tricks and routines
described in this book, many of them cannot be classed as mentalism by any purist’s
definition. Their attainment depends for the most part on the application of little-known
or little- understood principles, and these take the place of simple switches, torn centres,
impressions, nail-writers and the like.

Mentalists need not be alarmed, however, for they will find that, given the right
presentation, these routines will prove not only mystifying but vastly entertaining. They
will justify their place in the repertoire of the performer of standard magic as well as in
the acts of those who specialise in mental mysteries.

It is my sincere wish that the reader will not only enjoy reading them but will also find
pleasure in performing them. And I hope he will look forward to more material of the
same kind in the future.

JACK YATES.

5
CLIP LINE
Securely hidden in this routine is the basic principle of an old card trick. I thought
perhaps it could be employed for a mental effect using a newspaper clipping and was
very gratified with the result. You will find no place for it in a platform act but find it
very useful for informal close work.

Obtain a clipping one column wide and exactly 45 lines long. It should have no cross-
headings, for you want to avoid confusion, so your likeliest sources of supply are the
leader columns of the Times, the Daily Telegraph or the Manchester Guardian. Take
note of the 18th and 27th lines from the top of the clipping, and jot these lines at the
back of your notebook. Then put the clipping carefully away in your wallet. If you don’t
normally carry a small pair of scissors around with you, see that a pair is handy at the
place where you are going to demonstrate your powers.

Suppose that your host has called upon you to perform. Taking out your column of
newsprint, hand it to an interested spectator and see to it that he also gets the scissors.
Dilate on the power of the printed word, or use any other patter lines designed to
impress, and then ask the assisting spectator to cut a number of lines from the top of the
clipping he holds—“say between five and ten lines.” When he has done so, take this
scrap of paper, screw it up and throw it aside without a glance. Invite him then to trim a
few lines from the foot of the clipping.

Allowing this second piece to lie on the table, make a brief recap. Your helper having cut
some lines from head and foot of the paper he holds, you can have no idea where the
cutting now begins or ends, nor how many lines of type are left. This is perfectly true,
and he will be obliged to agree with you.

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Have him count the lines secretly, and when he has reached his total tell him you want
to bring it down to one digit. Thirty-two, for instance, would give 3 + 2 = 5, and thirty-
seven would give 3 + 7 = 10 and 1 + 0 = 1. Let him then count from the top of the
clipping to the line at the resulting number and make a pencil dot beneath it.

Once again you declare that you cannot possibly know which line he has marked, and
this too is true. But to make everything perfectly fair turn to the person beside him,
asking him to count the lines on the scrap of paper originally trimmed from the foot of
the column. When he has done so, he is requested to count that number of lines on from
his neighbour’s pencil mark and to underline the line he has arrived at. Invite him then
to trim a few more lines from head and foot of the column and throw them away. It
doesn’t matter what he does with the slip at this point, for your trap is laid.

Now is the time to refresh your memory concerning the original 18th and 27th lines, for
it is on one of these that the spectator is now concentrating. The odds are in favour of it
being the 18th, but don’t depend too heavily on this. After a little concentration, “fish”
for a word that occurs in only one of the lines so that you know which one you have to go
after. Then, after a little more concentration, reveal the contents with as much drama as
the circumstances will stand.

The spectators will be left with a piece of newspaper and no clues whatever which would
lead them to an explanation.

7
MATCH MIRACLE
Here is a lovely quickie with four matches. It’s completely impromptu and very simple to
perform, and it looks impossible. I wish it were possible for me to perform it for you
about three times in succession before allowing you to read the explanation, for this is
one of those items that improve with repetition. Once get the hang of it, and you will
always want to perform it.

A spectator places four matches in a row on the table, three of the heads pointing one
way and the remaining one in the opposite direction. When your back is turned, he
alters the position of the matches, and following your instructions he removes first one
match, then another and then a third. The match remaining is the one reversed. It is
infallibly so, though you do not see the matches or ask any questions.

And all you need to know is the position of the reversed match at the outset, counting
from your right as you face the spectator across the table. In the example shown in
Figure 1, you remember the number two. Turning your back on the spectator, you begin
to give him his instructions.

He has to make five moves, and each move consists of exchanging the reversed match
with the one on either side of it. (When the reversed match falls at the end of a row, the
move is limited of course to the single match beside it). One would suppose that at the
end of five such exchanges the reversed match could be in just any position, but
experiment will show you that its position will always correspond to the following rule.

If the reversed match starts at 1 or 3 it ends at 2 or 4.

If the reversed match starts at 2 or 4 it ends at 1 or 3.

So, in the example given in Figure 1, the reversed match will arrive in first or third
position.

You can safely tell the spectator to remove match No. 4, the one on his far right. Then
ask him to make another exchange, transposing the reversed match with one next to it
either to its left or right. It simply does not matter which he does, for the reversed
match arrives infallibly in the centre. You need now only instruct him to remove the
match on his right, then the one on his left, and the reversed match will be left alone on
the table.

Let us now go through a sample routine, as illustrated in Figure 2. Seeing the lay of the
matches at the outset, you merely remember No. 3. When your eyes are averted the
spectator makes the moves shown in the following five drawings, bringing the reversed
match to Position 4. (It could just as easily have fallen into Position 2.) Invite him to
remove the match at Position 1. (Figure 3) On your instruction he then transposes the
reversed match with one of the others, bringing it to the centre position, as shown in

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Figure 4. Then, removing the matches to left and right, he is left with only the reversed
match on the table.

This is one of my favourite impromptu effects, and I hope you will like it too. Don’t
perform it more than three times, and if you work it snappily you will find that it
becomes more and more bewildering. Don’t draw attention to the fact that there are
always exactly five moves made before any of the matches are removed; just keep secret
count yourself. If the spectator is led to believe that the number of moves is of no
significance, then he is left completely without a clue.

I suppose there is no need to mention that you can use four varied objects or three Aces
and a Queen and get the same results. The matches, however, make the effect so off-
hand and impromptu.

You may wonder why I have numbered the matches from right to left instead of in the
usual way. The explanation is simple: when you turn your back on the proceedings, the
order immediately becomes the customary left-to-right line-up. Experience has shown
that this stratagem prevents confusion.

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DEVIL’S DIE
You will find that the more intelligent your audience, the more bewildering will this
effect appear. There are some people whom it will not impress at all but the more
perceptive will regard it as verging on the impossible. It calls only for a single die (half-
inch or five-eighths is ideal) and the “know how.”

Although you don’t disclose the fact, the die is an anti-clockwise one—that is, if the Ace
is brought to the top, then the Two and Three are in the positions shown in Figure 1. If
you have a set of Come Seven dice, then you already have your materials to hand.

The effect is best worked with the spectator seated opposite you at a card table. (The
cloth covering helps, as you will presently see.) Having examined the die, the spectator
mentally selects a number 1-6. Then he rolls the die under your right hand so that there
is no possibility of you knowing the position of any one of the races. In fact from this
point onward you never see the die, and you should make this very clear.

Going under the right hand, the left hand takes the die, lifts it away from the table and
presents three faces to the spectator’s view. The right hand continues it masking, and
the hands are held as shown in Figure 2. After a few more similar moves, the left hand is
withdrawn and the die lies under the right as it did at the start. The spectator is asked to
reveal the number of which he thought, and when the right hand is raised the chosen
number is seen to be uppermost.

Each time the spectator is shown the die he is asked whether the number of which he is
thinking is visible. That, of course, is the information on which the performer works, but

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how the information is applied is a problem which would defeat even many people who
are mathematically inclined. Remember that the spectator need not reveal the number
he thought of before the performer discloses the face at the top. No move is made at this
stage.

To describe the working of the effect, I think we had better agree on terms. Face will be
understood; edge we shall take to mean the line where two faces meet; corner is the
point where three faces meet. Whenever the die is held for the spectator’s inspection, the
second fingertip is at one edge and the thumbtip at the edge diagonally opposite; nearest
to the spectator will be a corner—marked A in Figure 1, which also shows the hold.

You need now to learn a simple series of moves (though it will not seem so simple unless
you take die in hand). Push outward with the second finger and draw back with the
thumb, so that the thumb rests on the Two face and the only visible faces are the Ace on
top and the Three in front. Then let the forefinger come into contact with the rear face
and push it to the top, bringing the Four to the top and the Ace to the front. Then press
forward again with the second finger and draw back with the thumb so that three faces
are visible once more, the Four on top, the Ace to the left, and the Five to the right, and
the die held as at the start by two diagonally opposite edges. The progressive movements
of the die are shown in Figures 3, 4 and 5.

You will never need to make any other moves, so the above is little enough to learn, but
remember that you will never have the assistance of your eyes and thus you should
practise the moves thoroughly so that in the end your fingers take over and
automatically re-position the die without any need of thought.

With these moves mastered, prepare now for the working of the trick. Your victim rolls
the die under the cover of your right hand. Your left hand, going beneath the right from
behind, takes hold of the die as in Figure 1 (though of course three different faces may be
showing). You announce that you are going to show the die five times and each time the
spectator should make a mental note, or secretly mark off on his fingers, whether his
chosen number appears. Then you show him the die in the first position.

Lowering your hands, you make the secret moves and show the die again. This you
repeat until the five showings have been completed. Let us suppose that (although this
cannot be known to you) the die when first shown appears as in Figure 6A. The
subsequent showings will be as in 6B, 6C, 6D and 6E.

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If you will examine those drawings you will see that after the third peek you are back
again to where you started. 6A is repeated in 6D and 6B is repeated in 6E. You now ask
the victim how often his number has appeared, and when you know this you also know
where his number lies and can bring the appropriate face to the top.

The spectator will have seen his number one, two, three or four times. Let us deal with
the easy cases first. If he has seen his number once, then the appropriate face is now at
the back left (in the case illustrated, the Two). If he has seen his number four times, then
his number is at front right.

If, however, the spectator has seen his number either twice or three times, in each case
you need to ask him a further innocent question. Should he say he has seen his number
twice, then the correct face is now either at front left or bottom. Should he say three
times, then it is either at the top or the bottom right.

After showing the die for the fifth time, the left fingers retain their hold on it. If the
spectator declares that his number has appeared once or four times, the die is turned to
bring the correct face to the top and the left hand then withdraws. If, on the other hand,
he should say twice or three times, the die must be shown once more in the position last
seen, while you ask the question, “And is it visible now?” His answer to that gives you
your clue. If he has said “twice” and his number is visible, then it must be at front left; if
it is not visible, it must be at the bottom. Should he, however, have said “three times”
and the number is visible, then it must be at the top; if it is not visible, it must be at back
right. Here is a table for quick reference. This table should be committed to memory.

1 . . Back Left.
2 . . Front Left (or Bottom)
3 . . Top (or Back Right)
4 . . Front Right

The appropriate face having been brought to the top, the left hand retires and the die
remains under the right. When the spectator announces his number, the right hand too
is withdrawn, and he sees his mentally selected number staring him in the face.

***

I know full well that this stunning effect must seem very complicated in the reading, but
I assure you that it is very simple to perform when you have got the hang of the turning
move and have committed the key chart to memory. Should the intelligent spectator try
to work out a possible solution he will get himself into hopeless complications. Give the
routine a fair amount of practice and you will find it to be one of the most perplexing
effects in die magic.

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PERFECTED PUBLICITY
Mind-reading brings publicity. Here we reverse the usual order of things and design our
publicity so that it brings us invitations to read minds. Prospective bookers are always
likelier to keep our printed publicity matter if it is itself the basis of a trick, and that is
what makes the present item so well worth considering.

The performer has printed a number of cards similar to that reproduced herewith. The
lay-out is optional; the wording is important and should only be changed when the
performer understands the principle involved.

It looks innocent enough, I think you will agree, yet it is faked to suit your magical ends,
as you will discover. The important thing is that it is an interest-quickener. The recipient
is invited to think of a number, and that is something that people love doing. You are
going to use this card in a routine which employs one of the peculiar qualities of the
figure 9 in conjunction with the principle of the extended anagram.

13
Prepare for yourself a small key card bearing the odd-looking word TARSTEINEN. You
won’t need this card for long, because it is an easy formation to commit to memory.
With the publicity card, the key card, a pencil and a scrap of paper, you are ready to read
a mind. Hand your publicity card to a person who has expressed interest in your work.
Don’t offer to read his mind there and then. As he scans the card, the idea will come to
him. Let him take the initiative.

He asks you to read his mind, so you offer him pencil and paper and ask him to jot down
any number between 20 and 100. Let us suppose he chooses 62. Request him then to
add the digits of this number and subtract the result from the original. He does the
simple sum 6 + 2 = 8; 62 — 8 = 54. Whatever number the subject chooses, the answer
will always be 18, 27, 36, 45, 54, 63, 72 or 81—a fact well-known to most magicians.

Refer now to the publicity card herewith, and you will find that if you take the “reason”
corresponding to the first digit of any of these numbers and count to the word
corresponding to the second digit, you will arrive at one of the following words:—

AT, ART, STAR, START, TREATS, ATTIRES, ARTISTE, ENTERTAINS.

You will get the same result if you reverse the digits and then proceed as before. In our
example (54), counting to the fifth line and fourth word brings you to ATTIRES, and
counting to the fourth line and the fifth word brings you to ENTERTAINS.

Having obtained his number, the spectator is asked to take either digit and count to the
“reason” at that number; and then to take the remaining digit and count to the
corresponding word in that line. Having noted the word, he should jot it down on his
piece of paper. You are turned away from him while he does this, and you still have your
back to him while he concentrates on his word.

You appear to have some little difficulty in reading his mind and explain that though you
seem to be getting individual letters they are in jumbled order. You’ll do your best,
however, and will try calling out one letter at a time. As you do so, perhaps he will tick
his letters off and tell you when you have named them all.

Then, one by one, you start calling out in order the letters in TARSTEINEN. Avoid any
set rhythm in your calling. Give some letters quickly and with ease; over others hesitate
as though in difficulty.

If he stops you after 2 letters, his word is AT


after 3, his word is ART
after 4, it is STAR
after 5, START
after 6, TREATS
after 7, ARTISTES or ATTIRES
after 9, ENTERTAINS.

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So you see that by the skilful use of anagramatic words you can reveal the word of which
he is thinking in your own dramatic way.

There is, as you will see, one possible hitch: when he stops you after seven letters have
been called. Here you must fish. Say, “Ah, yes. It is coming clearer now. I have the
impression that the first letter is S. Am I right?” Whether he declares you right or wrong,
you will now know his word with certainty.

Have the cards decently printed. If you must use different “reasons” than those I have
given, make certain that the one important word is at its essential place in the line. Take
care that the printer does not correct ARTISTE to ARTIST. There are not many stunts
you can work with your own publicity literature and leave the evidence in the victim’s
possession. Afterwards he will examine the card very closely to discover its secret. He is
not likely to remember that he virtually told you how many letters his chosen word
contained.

15
ASTRAL DIGIT
There must be thousands of tricks with figures, and I always enjoy discovering new
ones. In this effect a simple mathematical principle (it could hardly be simpler) is
presented in the guise of mentalism. The requirements, as usual, are few—a pencil, a
piece of paper and an interested group of people. But with two slates and chalk the
routine may be built up to platform proportions, and it is in this dressing that I shall
describe it.

A spectator having been given slate and chalk, the magician turns his back on the
audience and asks for single figures to be called, six in all. As they are called, the holder
of the slate is to jot them down in a row but in any order he pleases. Figure 1 shows a
possible result. The man with the slate has then to write a second row of numbers, and
he gets these by adding the first and second digits in the first line, then the second and
third, then the third and fourth, and so on, finishing by adding the last digit to the first.
In our example, he will arrive at the result shown in Figure 2. Then he rubs out the first
line, settles on one of the “answers” in the second line and encircles it. The performer
points out that he did not know the order of the figures in the first line and can therefore
not possibly know the “answers” in the second.

At his instruction, the helper now proceeds to rub out these “answers” one by one,
declaring what each is before he does so. In the end, all that remains is the number he
encircled. Taking another slate, the magician scribbles something on it, and, both
holding their slates face down, magician and helper stand side by side facing the
audience. On a word of command both turn their slates, and it is seen that on each slate
is the same encircled number.

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The secret, as I have said, is mathematically simple. Mentally, the performer adds the
figures first called out and doubles the result. In adding first to second, second to third,
and so on, the assistant uses twice each of the figures given, so the total of the “answers”
in the second line must be the same as the number the magician has committed to
memory. The magician adds the rubbed-out “answers” as they are called, and by
subtracting the result from his first total he arrives infallibly at the number remaining.

The effect is capable of many variations and presentations. You are sure to have fun with
it.

17
MERCHANT MENTALIST
This is an effect for the party entertainer. There is no intricate preparation, and you can
perform it at any moment. From your pocket you take a packet of cards on each of which
is written the name of some article of merchandise. During the effect, someone will
select one of the many goods offered “in the market place,” and you will cause the
abstract name on the card to become transformed to the real thing which the helper is
usually surprised to find in his own hands. Believe me, there is good humour in the
effect, and for that reason it is one that is remembered to your benefit.

First let us deal with the cards. There are twenty-one of them, and they are in a set
order. Here it is:—

One thing is immediately obvious with the articles tabulated thus, and that is that PEN
appears three times and at regular intervals. Another feature, not so readily apparent, is
that each group of seven lists articles that are spelt by three, four, five, six, seven, eight
and nine letters, and that these are in a common order. Apply a small distinguishing
mark to the back of each PEN card. (Incidentally, though the cards are numbered above
so as to establish their order, only the lettering should appear in the actual set.)

Gathering the guests around you at the table, declare that you are about to open the
mystic market of the east. Bring out the packet of cards, displaying a few of the names of
the articles offered. With very little care you will manage to conceal the fact that the PEN
card is duplicated. Turning the packet face down, false shuffle and cut. Allow spectators
to cut a few times, and then announce that at this oriental market there are only seven
stalls, arranged in a circle. When a spectator has cut again, deal the top seven cards in a
face-down circle, proceeding in a clockwise direction. A PEN card will be amongst
them, and you will spot it immediately.

Let us suppose you have dealt the cards shown in the illustration. Actually, because they
are face down, the merchandise will be unknown to you. All you will know is the location
of the marked PEN card. Placing the remaining fourteen cards in your pocket, casually
hand a pen to one of your guests. Tell him you are going to let him be a buyer at the
market and will attempt to make his chosen gift magically appear.

Gesture him to touch any one of the cards. How you then proceed depends on which
card he touches. If he should choose the PEN card ask him if he is certain that is his
deliberate choice. He wouldn’t care to change his mind? He is quite satisfied with the

18
card he has chosen? The chances are that he will not allow himself to be moved,
whereupon you turn up the other cards one by one. “You have not come to the market
for a compact, nor for chocolate, nor a brush—” and so on. “And I promised you that
you would actually find in your hand the object you chose.”

You now do a bit of dramatic acting, asking the victim to keep hold of the pen resting on
the card. Look hard at the back of the card and invite him too to concentrate on it. If you
both concentrate enough the geni of the market will make the article come to the
spectator. Then ask the helper if he feels anything, because he now holds the chosen
article. Turn over the card. PEN, it says— and the spectator holds in his hand your pen!
That’s a perfect prediction!

Suppose now that the spectator touches the next card to the pen, in an anti-clockwise
direction—in the case illustrated, EARRINGS. Seeing to it that he retains the pen in his
hand, turn this card over. Invite him to spell out the article named, tapping each card in
turn for each letter and proceeding in a clockwise direction from the card next to the one
chosen. Starting thus on the PEN cards and spelling the word “earrings,” he arrives back
at the PEN card, and you proceed as before.

So far I have dealt with the two cards—the PEN card itself, and the next one to it in an
anti-clockwise direction—that are the only exceptions to an otherwise inviolable rule.
What that rule is I can best show by example.

19
Suppose the spectator indicates the CAKE card. Turn it over to show its face and then
turn it down again, leaving it in the circle. Starting at the next card in clockwise order,
spell out CAKE, and turn over the card which falls at the letter E. In our case, this is
COMPACT. Turn this card over and discard it. Then, starting at the next card to it in
clockwise order, spell COMPACT.

This brings you to CHOCOLATE, which you turn over and discard. Spelling “chocolate”
brings you to EARRINGS (turned over and discarded), spelling “earrings” brings you to
JACKET (turned over and discarded), spelling “jacket” brings you to CAKE (discarded),
spelling “cake” brings you to BRUSH, and when this is discarded you are left with PEN.
Conclude as described for the earlier instances.

The rule is, then, that apart from the PEN card and the next one to it in anti-clockwise
order, you turn over the card indicated, note the article named, and return it to its place,
face down. You spell the article, clockwise, turn over the card at the last letter and
discard it. Spell out the name on this second card and remove the card on its last letter.
Continue to do this, and in the end only the PEN card will remain.

***

Have no fear: the effect will always work, however the original pack of cards is cut.
Starting to the right of the PEN card, because of the cyclic set-up, the articles spell
respectively with 7, 9, 5, 4, 6 and 8 letters, and for that arrangement the rule always
works.

Although the effect is mathematical in character, this need never be clear to the
spectator, and it is the showmanship you put into the presentation that causes
astonishment. When you see the face of the spectator when he realises that he has the
named item in his hand, you will decide that the effect was worth the trouble you took in
making it up. If your fee warrants it, the helper can keep the pen as a gift from the
Mystic Market—some quite decent ball pens are available at little cost.

You could make the effect a straight-forward prediction, with a slip made out
beforehand and given into a spectator’s custody. But the watchers readily understand
that you deliberately lent the helper your pen because you knew that it was the article
that would be chosen. The prediction is implied rather than declared, and in this case is
all the more effective on that account.

20
WHO’S FOOLING WHOM?
Not strictly mind-reading, this cute little stunt can nevertheless be great fun. It is cod
mentalism which your friends will delight in showing their friends, and to do it they
must use your special card, which carries your name and address. And that gets your
name around, which I don’t suppose you will mind at all. First take a look at the card, of
which front and rear sides are here reproduced. The reverse shows a perfect square with
four upright strokes in the positions shown. Do see to it that the printer is given careful
instructions so that you get correct spacing. I suggest that the square be printed in red
and the uprights blue. These cards are all you require for the effect.

Show the card, type side up, to a friend and let him think of a word. When he has done
so, tell him you already know of what he is thinking and have even put evidence of this

21
on the other side of the card. Turning the card over, show the design and ask him to
name his word. What happens after that depends on the word he chose.

In five cases you need do nothing with the drawing but proceed in the following
manner:—

TELEVISION. “I knew you would choose that, and you see I have drawn a TV screen.”
When the person draws your attention to the vertical lines, remark: “Darn that
interference!”

HOUSES. “Well, I wasn’t so far wrong, you see. I’ve put four ‘homes.’” (“1” is the symbol
for a home win in football pools.)

FOOTBALL. The same as the above.

TOBACCO. “Yes, well it’s Four Square tobacco, of course.”

CIGARETTES. “You’ve heard of Four Square cigarettes I suppose, haven’t you?”

The drawing needs some development in the remaining cases. “Eyes” is dealt with as in
Figure 1, “Fowls” (hens) as in Figure 2, “Vegetables” (Peas) as in Figure 3, and
“Cemetery” is represented by four graves as in Figure 4. For Gaol two alternative
handlings are possible. You may either produce a cell window from the outside looking
in (Figure 5), or the same from the inside looking out (Figure 6).

Though he’s not likely to see all the possibilities, your victim will know that he has been
on the receiving end of a spoof. If he protests, you can always come back with, “Well,
what do you want—blood?”

22
OBJECT IN MIND
We come back here to a very ancient schoolboy stunt on “think of a number” lines, but
so adapted to be very successfully disguised. Although “think of a number” is quite a
good party-act theme, “think of an article” is immeasurably better. In our case one of the
party places before him on the table a row of three small objects. They can be anything—
well, almost anything. The only thing to be careful of is that their names spell with a
different number of letters in each case. For illustration we shall suppose that he
chooses a pipe, a wallet and a pen.

Turning your back on him, you invite him to rearrange the articles however he pleases
and then to concentrate on the one that ends up in the middle. Suppose, unknown to
you, this proves to be the wallet. Ask him to multiply the number of letters in the object’s
name by five, and when he announces he has done this enquire whether or not he
believes in telepathy. If he says Yes, remark, “Then please add four to your total. Had
you said ‘ No ’ I should have asked you to add six.” (This is pure bunkum; it doesn’t
matter what figure he adds as long as you remember what it is.)

He finally doubles his new total and then adds to this figure the number of letters in the
name of one of the remaining articles. He tells you the answer, but before you turn back
to him you invite him to rearrange the articles before him once more. It doesn’t matter
what he does with these articles, for you are now able to name the one he chose.

All this, I know, is far removed from pure mentalism, but it is an effect which creates a
fair amount of interest when performed under the proper conditions. You will be asked
to repeat it again and again, and that shows at least that it entertains.

You will easily learn the secret from the example we have given above, where the wallet
was chosen from a line-up of wallet, pipe and pen. The spectator’s sum goes like this:—

It is the figure 71 that the performer is given at the close. From this he substracts double
the figure he told his victim to add, whatever it is. In our case, he asked the spectator to
add 4, so he subtracts 8 from 71, reaching the figure 63. The second digit he ignores.
The first digit tells him how many letters are in the name of the chosen article, and since
each of the articles is spelt with a different number of letters, he can name it without fail.

Even elementary mathematicians will see why it works after a few moments’ thought.
Here, so that the method is made crystal clear, is another example.

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Given this figure, the performer subtracts double the number he asked the spectator to
add, and taking 14 from 62 leaves 48. The second figure is ignored. There are four letters
in the chosen article, which must thus be the book.

I repeat that it’s an old idea. I trust you will find, as I have, that this dressing gives it a
new lease of life.

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MURDER MOST FOUL
Jack Vosburgh started it all with his effect “Pay Day,” which was published in the Jinx.
The theme was taken up and various hands adapted it to the theme of the Murder Game.
I have done the same here, but my routine has features that are not present in the other
presentations I have read. The principle is very thoroughly concealed, but the effect
remains clean-cut and easily followed, and the work of the performer is just about as
simple as it can be made. If the reader wants a fascinating effect in which a number of
guests may be engaged, then he will be well advised to set to work and make up this
game of “Guess the Murderer.”

It is the presentation that is most important in the end, and if you can talk then this
routine will suit you. Your requirements make a rather longer list than for the other
items in this book. First you need a quantity of plain cards, some Indian ink and a pen,
an inking pad and some red ink.

Now make five SUSPECT cards, on each of which you should write one of the following
names:—

MRS. BLAND
JENKINS, the Butler
SAM EARNSHAW, a Bookie
LAUNCELOT, who is Mrs. Bland’s Nephew
LOTTIE, the Maid

When these have been made you can go ahead with the CLUE cards. There are rather a
lot of these.

20 Bloodstains. A blot of red ink.


20 Finger-prints. Use your own finger tip and the inking pad.
5 Bullets. A bullet drawn as simply as you know how.
5 Letters. On each of these you merely write the word “letter,” or make a simple
drawing of the same.

There are, you see, 50 CLUE cards in all.

Your last task is to make five INSTRUCTIONS cards, and they read, respectively, as
follows:—

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The five cards are known to you secretly by their numbers as given above, but there is no
difficulty about that, for it is the position of LOTTIE in the list that identifies the card:
she is the first in Card 1, the second in Card 2, and so on. The numbers themselves do
not appear on the cards.

A major difficulty in most of the Murder Game routines offered to magicians is that they
have required the committal to memory of a mnemonic. In most cases this has been a
fairly easy matter to men familiar with mental and memory work, but it has been
sufficient to put off the performer with little experience in the field. Here no such task is
necessary, for you are only required in any instance to subtract a number from ten. You
will see how presently. Meanwhile, with the cards prepared as described and a toy pistol,
you are ready to perform.

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May I repeat that the main feature of this routine is not the secret (although that is
perfectly safe) but your ability to talk and play the part of a detective. Whether you
choose to impersonate the American “private eye” or District Attorney, or prefer the
quieter, more dignified Sherlock Holmes type, will depend on your personality.

Five members of the party having agreed to participate, you explain that a murder has
been committed. Mr. Bland has been shot by this gun—you take the gun (in a
handkerchief, being careful not to handle it) and lay it on the table. The field of suspects
has been narrowed down, and it is now certain that the murderer is one of five people:
Mrs. Bland, the widow, Lottie the maid, Jenkins the butler, Sam Earnshaw a bookie, or
the deceased’s nephew Launcelot. Each assistant now selects the part he would like to
play, and some irrelevant fun can be obtained from this, for sometimes you will find a
man who elects to play Lottie and a woman who opts for Sam Earnshaw. The characters
having been agreed upon, each player pins the appropriate suspect card to his or her
clothing.

Now the performer draws attention to the little pile of instructions cards and the other
piles of clue cards. When his back is turned, he announces, the players are to take an
instruction card apiece. He stresses that he cannot know which card each suspect holds.
They must agree among themselves who is to be the murderer, and then each must
follow the instructions on the card he holds, taking clue cards from the various piles and
concealing them. When these instructions are understood, the performer may under
fully informal circumstances leave the room. (Incidentally, the murderer should take the
pistol and conceal it in his pocket or, if a lady, in her handbag.)

All this having been done, the performer is recalled and goes about his detective work,
seeking to solve the crime. Now is the time when he should employ his acting powers,
and if he does this with proper seriousness he will find that the suspects will also be
ready to do a bit of character acting. They can tell all kinds of untruths, making up their
own alibis, etc. Launcelot, asked where he was at the time of the murder, may claim that
he was in Lottie’s room, but when Lottie is questioned on the subject she denies it,
saying she is not that kind of a girl, and so on. With a certain familiarity with detective
literature and a little imagination, this part of the routine can provide considerable fun.

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But the first thing you do, naturally, on your return to the room, is to study the clue
cards remaining on the table. Ignore bullets and letters—they are camouflage. You are
concerned only with the combined total of bloodstains and fingerprints. There will be 5,
6, 7, 8 or 9 of them, and you can identify the murderer by simply taking that number
from ten. Should there be six such clues, for instance (10 — 6 =4), you will know that the
murderer is the player holding Card 4—the one with Lottie’s name in the fourth
position.

To discover this you casually collect the instruction cards, apparently taking no notice of
their contents, and dropping them back on your table. As soon as you sight the card with
Lottie’s name in the correct position, you know the murderer’s identity. The trick part of
the plot is over, and you may now concentrate on your examination of the five suspects.
Finally you confront the murderer with a charge: “I charge you with having killed Mr.
Bland, and it is my duty to warn you—” You know the stuff. The murderer is at last made
to hand over the weapon.

For party work, there is nothing better than this routine, for it is after all a game as
much as it is a mystery. And it can be made to run for fifteen minutes.

***

You can, if you wish, add some further mystery at the close. If you practise contact
mind-reading, then you may at the outset ask the murderer to hide the gun. When you
identify him at the close, you may use him for your muscle-reading demonstration. Use
your discretion here, however, and if you feel he would not prove a good subject then
find an excuse for using one of the other suspects for the same purpose.

On the other hand, the gun having been hidden, have the identified felon jot its location
on a slip of paper. Before you can prevent him, you explain, the murderer burns the
incriminating slip. You tear it for him, dropping the pieces in an ashtray where he may
set a match to them. But, in your cunning manner, you have made away with the torn
centre. Having obtained your glimpse of it, set the master-mind working on such clues
as you can manufacture which will lead you to the weapon’s hiding-place. Produce the
pistol finally with a flourish.

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CREDITS
He must be a very bold magician who would claim, in this day and age, to have produced
something new. We are all of us indebted to those who have gone before, our magical
ideas springing from some effect of the past or being merely the development or
application of some long-known principle.

Much of what has appeared in these pages has been based on material drawn from
magicdom’s common stock. In some cases the direct inspiration is easily traced, and
thus I am able to express my indebtedness to other originators. Bill Nord’s “Thought
Master,” for instance, gave me the idea for “Clip Line,” and “Match Miracle” was born as
I studied the Card Monte of Bob Hummer. Royal Heath’s bank note effect is the
mathematical basis of “Astral Digit,” and the specially-worded telegram in “Practical
Mental Effects” was the start of the thought-process which resulted in “Perfected
Publicity.” “Merchant Mentalist” uses a mathematical idea of the late Dr. Daley’s—an
idea you would never recognise in “Bank Nite” in Wallace Lee’s “Math Miracles.”

In no case, however, have I used a principle as it stood. I have tried to employ novelty of
application as well as produce novelty of effect. These items have served me well. I trust
they will do at least as much for you.

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