Part IV. The Palm and Recovery

This very effective flourish deserves much better treatment than it usually receives, even at the hands of professional magicians. How often does one see the artist palpably grab a handful of cards from the top of the pack, then thrust his hand under the coat of a spectator and bring them out spread fanwise? The spectators laugh and applaud and the performer takes it all as the reward of his cleverness. In reality the spectators have seen exactly what he really did, there was no secret in his getting possession of the cards, and they only laughed at the discomfiture of the volunteer assistant. Having "got away with it" so easily, as he thinks, he never sees any necessity for making his moves cleanly. Yet the palm and recovery should be done in such' a way that it creates real mystery as well as amusement.

In the first place when you palm the cards never remove the right hand at once. Hold the pack in the same hand for a few moments and then transfer it to the left hand as openly as possible. Close the second, third and fourth fingers, bending the cards almost double, and with the forefinger point to the place from which you are about to produce the cards. Thrust your hand under the spectator's coat and rest it momentarily fiat against his body. Bend your middle finger inward, pressing its tip on the back of the packet to hold it as you withdraw your hand a little to enable you to grip the inner ends of the cards by the finger tips. Then fan the cards to the fullest possible extent as you bring them into view. The whole action should be made as if your hand went to the spectator's coat to take out cards you just pointed to and not to push them underneath it. In this way you get not only the amusement of the onlookers but their mystification as well.

When the cards are to be produced from the performer's body, the action differs. Suppose the fan of cards is to be produced from the back of your right knee, palm the packet and retain the pack in the right hand as you make a free gesture with the left. Then take the pack in that hand as openly as possible and make a one hand color change, pointing to the face card with the right forefinger, the other three fingers bending the cards into the palm. Ruffle the pack, look down at your knee and drop your right hand just behind it. Insert the first joint of your middle finger behind the packet and, by straightening the fingers, extend the cards directly behind your knee. Grip the cloth of your trouser leg with the tips of your thumb and middle finger and pull it outwards, palm of the hand to the front, tips Of the fingers and the cards behind the cloth. Fan the cards as you draw them into view and it will appear as if they are being actually pulled through the fabric.

If the palmed cards are to be apparently caught in mid-air, then, as you stretch your arm out, grip them by their outer ends between the tips of the first and second fingers at one corner and between the third and fourth fingers at the other, exactly as in the front palm for the back and front sleight. Bend the thumb in on the back of the cards and fan them out as Widely as possible. By varying the methods of making the palm and the single hand color change, a routine of moves can be arranged which will be really mystifying and not mere jugglery. The Hugard palm will be found a valuable one for this purpose since the bottom card remains in full view, making it appear to be impossible that any cards could have been palmed off. The flourish given on Card Manipulations No. 3, will also be found to fit into such a routine with very good effect.