The Expanding and Diminishing Cards

Effect: The cards are expanded to nearly twice their usual size and then diminished by several stages until they vanish completely.

Requirements: A stripper pack of Steamboats, or other cards with backs of a solid pattern, i.e. without white margins; stripped a little more deeply than usual. A giant card and a miniature card with similar backs, and a small stand against which to display these cards upright.

Preparation: Arrange thirty-two cards in pairs, taking cards that most resemble each other, for instance, the kings and jacks, nines and tens, and sevens and eights of each suit. Turn each alternate card round so that the narrow end of the first card will point outwards and the narrow end of the second card inwards. Fig. 28.

Thus arranged if the ends of the pack are pulled outwards and the cards fanned, the similarity of the alternate cards will give it the appearance of having been elongated. One odd card must be put on the top and the ace of diamonds must be on the bottom with the Three of Diamonds behind it. If you now take the pack in your left hand and with the right strip the reversed cards out for about three-quarters of their length you will find that by pressing tightly on the cards at the top and bottom of the packet held by the left hand, you can safely fan the elongated pack and still retain the protruding cards in position.

This order is retained throughout the trick, and the reason for an Ace being put at the bottom is that the illusion of the cards being diminished would be spoiled by the disproportionate amount of the pattern being visible at the various stages if any other card faced the audience. Thirty-two cards only are used because the full pack is too bulky for neat handling in the manipulations, unless indeed, you are fortunate enough to have a very large hand. Place an extra card, any card, in front of the Ace of Diamonds, for a reason to be given later.

The giant card you fix in a paper clip sewn on the inside of the vest in such a position that when the lower end of the card is pushed into the dip, the upper end will be just out of sight at the top of the vest. The miniature card you fix in a similar manner under the lapel of the coat on the right hand side.

The Working: Let us suppose that you have worked some such trick as the "Cards up the Sleeve," or the "Three Cards Across," remark that the explanation of the mystery is that the cards are made of rubber and that by pulling and squeezing them, they can be made any size you please. Offer to show how it is done and pick up your arranged stripper deck. You will, of course, be careful to use a pack with the same backs in your preceding trick.

"You see the cards are the ordinary size," you say as you take off the odd card from the bottom. "I will put one here so that you can fully appreciate the changes in the size of the cards." Place the card upright against the stand on the table. Then spread the pack fanwise in the left hand with the backs to the spectators, you have your right side to the front. Fig. 29.

"Suppose I want the cards a little bigger. I simply pull them like this." Take the outer end of the deck in your right hand and strip the cards out about an inch. Spread the cards fanwise with the right thumb and exhibit the cards, thus enlarged, in the left hand with their backs to the front. Fig. 30. They must be firmly held between the thumb, pressing on the backs, and the fingers on the faces of the cards. Keep your left hand in motion, as if to show the enlarged cards to everyone, the point of junction between the two packets will not then be visible.

Close the fan sharply with the right hand, then strip the packets a little farther apart, this time leaving only about three-quarters of an inch of the upper packet interweaved in the lower cards. Still standing with your right side to the spectators, spread the pack in as wide a fan as possible, being careful to press down firmly with the left thumb, holding the projecting cards in position. Fig. 31.

Keep the hand moving as before, then turn to face the audience direct. With the right hand at. the top of the fan make a pretense of adjusting the cards which now have their faces to the front. Slip the right first finger and thumb behind the top of the fanned cards and at the same time bring the left hand back until the top of the fan is just above the opening of the vest, as if to better display the increased size of the cards. With the tips of your right thumb and forefinger seize the giant card by its upper end and, raising both hands slightly, draw it from the vest behind the fan. To facilitate this steal you should have the top button of your vest unfastened.

Slide the right hand top corner of the giant card between the two of the cards in the middle of the fan, then slowly draw it out. If the card has the same pattern as the pack, show it back and front; if not, then show the face of the card only and stand it on the table beside the card already there.

Close the fan as you say, "If I want to reduce the cards I simply squeeze them so." Cover the pack with your right hand and with a pretense of squeezing them vigorously, push the projecting cards down until a little less than half their length protrudes. Turn to the left and again spread the cards fanwise, showing their backs and keeping your hand in motion as before. (Fig. 30.)

"Another squeeze and they are back to their original Size." Bring the fight hand over the cards and push the projecting cards flush with the lower packet, then spread them and hold the squared up pack close to the giant card to show the reduction in size. (Fig. 29.)

"It is possible to reduce them to half the size." Bring the right hand over the pack. Make a pretense of squeezing the pack vigorously and then strike it with the half closed hand. As you do this turn to face the front, bringing the back of the left hand towards the spectators. Hold the pack in such a way that only one-half is visible above the left forefinger. Again spread the pack fanwise and the cards appear to have been reduced to half their original size. (Fig. 32.)

"With a little more pressure they can be made smaller still." You close the fan and squeezing the cards as before, push the pack a little further down in the left hand, allowing only about half an inch to protrude. Strike them several times with the half closed right hand. Spread these apparently miniature cards, Fig. 33, and, as if to display them better, bring the left hand back against the lapel of your coat. In the same way that you secured the giant card, grip the tiny card concealed there by the tips of the right thumb and first finger, and bring it out behind the fan. Draw it out from between two of the cards about the middle of the fan, show it and place it upright against the stand, beside the giant card.

"I can make the cards so very small that they will be scarcely visible. Just a squeeze and a hard tap, like this, and you can barely see them." At the word "squeeze" palm the pack in the right hand, instantly raising it about six inches, back of the hand to the front, of course, and bring it down sharply, striking the tips of the left fingers and thumb. Press the thumb and fingers together, as if holding the compressed cards with difficulty, close the lower three fingers of the right hand inwards, bending the palmed pack towards the palm, and point with the right index finger to the left hand.

Palming the pack will require a little practice ,but if the right positions are taken, there is no real difficulty in executing the move. To close the fan of the very small cards, place the right hand, held vertically, against the right side of the fan so that the first joint of the forefinger touches the top fight hand corner of the fan. Close the spread by moving the right hand to the left and, the moment the pack is squared, bend the tip of the left first finger under it and propel the pack into the right hand. The instant it is palmed, raise the right hand and strike the tips of the left fingers and thumb with the heel of the hand. At the same moment turn to the left and point to the left hand.

The next move is to change over the pack from the right hand to the left. This is done as you turn to the right, bringing the left side to the front. The hands are brought together as you face front and, under cover of their backs, the change over is made, the turn to the right is continued, the right fingers and thumb being pressed together just as the left fingers and thumb were a moment before, and the left index finger is extended, pointing at the supposed tiny cards in the right hand. The transfer takes but the fraction of a second. In order to spring the pack from the right hand to the left, bend the right second finger, top joint, in behind it as you bring the right hand to meet the left. The instant the left hand secures the pack, turn your right hand upwards, palm to the front, and pretend to take the compressed cards between the tips of the first two fingers and the thumb. You should do this with an effort, as if taking something that would expand if you did not hold it tightly.

Raise the right hand with the imaginary cards and concentrate your whole attention on it. "When the cards have been squeezed as small as this," you say, "they can be easily passed up the sleeve." Snap the fight fingers and open them wide, showing right hand empty. At once thrust the left hand under your coat, just above the shoulder, and push the pack well in. Then with the right hand throw your coat open and bring out the cards, holding them at the tips of the left fingers by their extreme ends, spreading them at the same time into as big a display as possible.

For the purpose of the trick it is necessary to spread the pack smartly with one movement of the right thumb across the back. The modern method of fanning the cards, by bending them as the spread is made, is not suitable.

I cannot too strongly recommend the student to devote the time necessary to master this most charming of all manipulative feats with cards.