INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA [Assembly Report for February 2006]
Harry Riser Assembly No. 31
Meets the first Monday, 7 PM at Mystic Tai Lodge, SE corner of Illinois & North St.

Yes - I Use Gaffed Cards (original)

Ken Kern opened our meeting with a warm welcome to new S.A.M. and Assembly member, James Croop. Your Best Gaffed Card trick was the theme for tonight. Ken Kern, assisted by Mike Engle, gave Mike half of a packet of cards. Ken turned his cards face up and asked Mike to mentally select two. Kenâ??s packet was combined again and turned over again. Ken asked Mike if his selected cards were there. Mike stated that they had vanished. When Mike looked at his packet, the selected cards were there. Jerry Cassel presented three tricks using apparatus made by Anverdi. David Ford assisted by selecting a card and returning it to the pack. The cards were placed into a box and when the selected card was placed in the box, the lid magically closed. The remaining two devices, one where a hand drops on the selected card and the other where a dog barks and dances when the selected card is laid down suffered mechanical failures. Just seeing these treasures was a treat. Taylor Martin stepped forward and asked Mike Engle to select and sign a card; this card was then torn, vanished, and mysteriously appeared inside a container of Ban deodorant as Taylor performed a comedy presentation of Banned in Boston. Chris Henderson asked Mike Engle to select and sign a card. This card was returned to the deck, and then appeared to vanish, only to be found in an envelope lying on the table as Chris performed Solid Gold Card in the Envelope. Mike Engle asked Tony Watson to select a card, write its value on a piece of paper, and lay it face down. Mike was now going to read his mind. Failing to do this Tony selected another card, but Mike failed again. Mike asked for one more chance, but this time Mike will use his trusted toucan puppet, Beaker. They not only divine the third card; but, correctly identify the first two cards. Bob Vasileff stepped up with a deck of cards that were cut into two packets. One packet was selected by an audience member and Bob removed five cards. Three cards were turned face up, the packet closed, and then pushed the packet through his hand making all of the cards to magically turn the same way. Bob continued with Three Card Monte. Bob concluded by showing a four card packet riveted together. The cards shown were R, B, R, and B. Under the cover of a silk the center cards trade places in a flash. Tony Watson performed an original comedy effect he called the Red Deck with the Blues. A deck of cards appeared to morph into a harmonica upon which Tony played a tune. Harry Riser gave a brief discussion on one way cards and double faced cards and showed how they might be used. Harry then displayed a red backed and a blue backed deck. Paul Harnishfeger selected the red deck. Harry was going to make a prediction using the selected deck and removed one card. Harry opened the blue back deck and asked Paul to name any card, this card was removed, and when the prediction card was shown, it matched the selected card. Harry continued with 5 Card Monte described in his first book, The Feints and Temps of Harry Riser, where an Ace is part of a five card packet. Harry asked everyone to watch carefully as the Ace magically disappeared only to be replaced by a Joker. Harry continued with a Paul Curry trick described in Greater Magic where Harry wrote two predictions on two cards that were placed face down. Jared Sherlock selected a card as did Bob Vasileff. The predictions matched the selected cards. Harry continued by making a written prediction on a slip of paper and then asked Harold Barnes to name any card that came to mind. A comedy routine followed as Harry said that there were many ways to name cards. Cards were shown and different names were written on the back, such as Mark, Jim, and Sally. The card Harold selected was named Edna that matched Harryâ??s written prediction. Harry concluded with No Lay Down Aces, a full description appeared in M.U.M., where three aces plus three cards are culled to form three four card packets. The ace of spades is the master ace and is placed in the remainder of cards and tabled. Each packet is handled and the ace in each vanishes only to have migrated to the ace of spades in the tabled deck.

Tonight was a terrific meeting where some excellent card magic was presented for the enjoyment of all.

Bob Vasileff, Scribe