LIES! LIES! LIES!

HENRY CHRIST

A card is selected, noted, and returned to the pack which is given a shuffle. The spectator
takes the deck and gives it several cuts while the performer turns his back. He instructs
the person to deal the cards from the face down pack into a face up pile, calling their
names as they appear. But—when the selected pasteboard shows up, the spectator is to
lie. In other words, for once he is to disregard the truth, and instead of calling a spade a
spade or suitwise, he is to call that particular card by another name. The performer,
secure in his great knowledge of lying, announces that he will be able to detect a false
note in the voice and stop the proceedings at such a point just as surely as though the
spectator was being tested by a mechanical Lie Detector.

So it goes. And an audience believes it provided the performer presents it with sincerity.
The patter possibilities are unlimited! Everything depends upon a key or locator card.
Personally I break the very corner of a card if using a borrowed deck and use it as a short.
Have it on the bottom when starting. A card is chosen from the fan. Undercut half the
deck, have the card replaced on the top half and drop the bottom half on top of this. Now
cut the deck just under the replaced card, overhand shuffle a little over half of the deck
and drop the rest behind the cards shuffled. Give the deck to the assisting spectator and
ask him to cut it a couple of time. As the key card is above the selected card, the
performer hears it when it is called and knows the "lie" is on the following call.

A second method is with the use of the League Back Bicycle cards. The wing reverse in
the center of the back can be seen at a distance of twenty feet with no effort at all. The
deck is reversed for the return of the card and the spectator may overhand shuffle to his
heart's content. He is told to hold the deck face down and pick up the cards one at a time,
look at them, and call out their names. Then the card is placed on the table, or on the back
of the deck. In this case, the performer faces spectator and knows the selected card the
instant it is held up.

THE MODERN EYE POPPER

Performers who have used the effect of a card being placed second from where it jumps
to the top will like this really new version which takes away the necessity of much skill.

It is necessary only to have a regular short card in the deck, (see "A" under short cards).
Have it on the bottom and then have the usual card selected. The noted card is returned to
the top of the deck which is undercut, effectively burying it. Another cut and a riffle
shuffle at the ends can be given, for with thumbs at the ends, the short card will not be
separated from the selected one. Now riffle and cut deck so that the short card is at the
top, and the selected card is second from the top.

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Say that you have located the card because by its strange power it always comes to the
top of the deck. With the right thumb at one end and the second finger at the front, lift the
top card and show it. Really though, the second card is picked up and the short card on
top comes with it! Don't try to pick up two cards, just pick up the top one and the two will
come up together. Still holding the selected and found card with the right finger and
thumb, use its left long edge to flip over the top card of the deck which your left thumb
pushes out a little. Call attention to this one, which apparently is the second card of the
deck. Flip it back face down and drop the card held in your right hand on top. Now slide
the top card back a little, and slide out the second card and place on top. Pick it up by the
ends as before (only the one card will come up this time) and it is the chosen card back
on the top! Put this down for a second and look to see if the second card on the deck is
the same as before. Lift by the ends and two cards come up as one and the second card is
seen to be the same.

Replace this and pick up the chosen card from the table and place it back on the top.
Again slide the second card out and place it on the top. Again lift by the ends (short card
is now back on top) and once more the chosen card is back.

Again flip over the next card on the deck and again it is the same card. Replace all as
before. Now very slowly take off the top card alone and slide it half way into the center
of the deck. Now if you can make a decent genuine double lift you can show the second
card apparently on top which proves the selected card is at the center of the deck. Put the
second card face down, shove the card completely into the deck, tap the deck and turn
over the top card showing, that the chosen card is back for the last time.

This is a very beautiful and worthwhile improvement for those not too skillful with the
strictly sleight-of-hand method.

THE CARD THAT ISN'T

Effect: A card, say the Ace of Hearts, is drawn, replaced and the deck shuffled and cut by
the performer who announces that the top card is the one chosen. It is not, however, but
proves to be, say the Ace of Spades, which is laid face down on the table. The deck is
now handed to the spectator with instructions to spell out his card, dealing one card for
each letter. He spells out the Ace of Hearts, letter by letter, and turning up the last card
finds the Ace of Spades. Realizing that there cannot be two Aces of Spades he turns up
the card on the table and this proves to be the Ace of Hearts!

Preparation: An ordinary deck of cards may be used or one containing a short card. For
the sake of illustration, I shall use a short card as well as the Aces of Spades and Hearts in
describing the routine.

Prepare by placing the short card on top of the deck and above it the number of cards
required to spell ACE OF HEARTS. Eleven cards! The short card should now be 12th.

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