Collected Worlds of UT^ 'EhnsCey Volume II Written By Stephen 3/iinch The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Volume II This second volume continues the )ageant of scintillating Elmsley magic >egun in Volume I. It begins with a series >f five original flourishes, most drawn rom a youthful Alex Elmsley's compe- ition, stage, manipulation act. Following his decorative opening set, the book pro- ceeds immediately to a remarkable collection of more than 103 exquisitely conceived, entertaining and unfathom- able tricks, ranging from baffling predictions and feats of mind reading to glittering coin magic and bewildering card mysteries. Established Elmsley classics are here, such as "Between Your Palms", "Point of Departure", "Brainweave" and "Diamond Cut Diamond", along with a generous assortment of previously unpublished material, including such sought-after gems as "The Elmsley Rising Card", the "Dazzle" packet routine and "En Voyage", one of Dai Vernon's favorite Elmsley effects. One chapter is devoted entirely to Elmsley tricks using the faro shuffle. Here can be found Mr. Elmsley's seminal essay on that shuffle, along with his exciting Penelope's Principle. Volume II ends with a detailed descrip- tion of one of Alex Elmsley's crowning achievements: his "Cardworks", a bril- liant act that baffled and inspired master magicians throughout England, Monte Carlo and the U.S. This volume and its predecessor chronicle the creations of one of the most jexceptional minds magic has ever jenjoyed. Within these pages, indeed, lie Inarvels of rare and cunning device! The Collected Works of Alex Elmsley Volume II I I Elmsley ACKNOWLEDGMENT This volume, like the first, was made possible through the help and generosity of a great many friends and acquaintances. Gordon Bruce of Glasgow, Scotland, and Milt Kort of Birmingham, Michigan, did immense amounts of research, unearthing scores of articles in old journals and scarce booklets. Jack Avis, through his notebooks and correspondence, is responsible for the preservation of a significant portion of the previously unpublished magic that appears here. Those who volunteered to contribute unpublished and rare Elmsley items and information include Gordon Bruce, Dr. Edward Brown, Roy Walton, Richard Kaufman, Herb Zarrow, Bruce Cervon, Anthony Brahams, David Michael Evans, Roger Klause, Simon Aronson, David Solomon, Harry Riser, John Thompson and Allan Ackerman. Of those who patiently answered and researched countless historical points, foremost are Milt Kort and David Michael Evans, ably followed by Peter Warlock, Jack Avis, Roy Walton, Reinhard Muller, Francis Haxton and Edward Mario. Supreme Magic of Devon, England kindly granted permission for the inclusion of "Animal, Vegetable and Mineral", a trick for which they hold manufacturing rights. Concerning the material in Chapter Eight, special bouquets are ardently tossed to Milt Kort, Dr. Gene Matsuura, and Ron and Patty Bauer. It was Milt Kort who had the foresight to tape record Mr. Elmsley's 1975 "Card- work" lecture. This recording, supplemented with copious notes provided by Ron Bauer and Dr. Matsuura, made possible the complete and precise documentation of this lecture. For the task of proofreading the manuscript for this volume, I have once more imposed on three trusted and exceptionally knowledgeable friends, David Michael Evans, Max Maven and Darwin Ortiz, whose efforts and suggestions have made this a better book. Finally, of course, my renewed thanks go to Alexander Elmsley, who first invented all the wonderful magic, then took valuable time to ferret through private notes containing unpublished items from decades past, corrected my text and provided important historical insights. To all these men I owe an incalculable debt of gratitude. Stephen Minch FIRST EDITION © Copyright 1994 by Louis Falanga. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without the permission of the publishers. Printed and bound in the United States of America 6 5 4 32 1 CONTENTS THE MICROCOSM OF MAGIC 1 CHAPTER ONE: Flourishes 3 The Tower Bridge Cut 7 Little-finger Spinner 11 The Multiplying Aces 13 The Rosette 19 Two-ball Roll 22 CHAPTER TWO: Hidden Thoughts and Future Deeds 27 The Fan Prediction 29 Hidebound Forecast 33 The Mexican Prediction 37 Face Your Brothers 39 A Delicate Balance 45 It's a Small World 48 Halfway to Heaven 51 Verbum Sapienti 53 Open Intruder 56 Brownwaves II 60 Brown waves III 64 Multiple Mind Reading 67 Double-cross 69 Like a Rolling Bone 73 Failure 76 Auto-prediction 80 Divina-sign: 83 A Card from Cagliostro 85 Aussi-mental 87 Animal, Vegetable and Mineral 89 The Octal Pencil 93 Verbum Veritas 97 Pack of Lies 100 CHAPTER THREE: Exotica 107 Still Taking Three 109 Point of Departure 118 Economy Class Departure 122 The Fiddle with the Biddle in the Middle 129 The Red and the Blue 133 The Shy Chameleon 136 Turn-about Card 140 A Small Revelation 144 Fool's Mate 149 Jubilee 153 Separating the Men from the Boys 161 A Problem with Duplicate Identities 166 The Imp of the Inverse 168 Sum Talk of Alexander 171 Switchy-coo 175 Half Packed 178 Second Link 183 Diamond Cut Diamond 186 Signing Off 189 Signature Piece 192 Shakedown 197 CHAPTER FOUR: Marsupial Favorites 205 Pocketpick 207 Pockets Full of Miracles 211 Reluctant Cards to Pocket 217 Duplicitous Cards to Pocket 222 Flight Plan 228 En Voyage 233 Processional 241 Daley Double 243 Between Your Palms 246 Only Child 250 Incommunicado 254 CHAPTER FIVE: Coinages 259 Devaluation 261 Revaluation 264 Boston Two-step 268 The Astral Coin Rides Again 273 Milling a Coin 280 Sucker Silver 282 The Spider's Treasury 287 CHAPTER SIX: Faro Tapestries 293 Indulgences 295 Deck Preparation for Faro Shuffles 295 Weave Corrections for Miscuts 297 Placing a Key at Twenty-sixth Position 300 The Mathematics of the Weave Shuffle 302 Out- and In-weaves 303 The Odd Pack and Weave 304 Equivalent Odd Pack 304 Returning a Pack to the Same Order 305 Solving the Shuffle Equation 306 Stack Transformations 307 Royal Flush Deal 308 The Constant Stack 309 The Restacking Pack 309 Binary Translocations 311 Double Control 312 Penelope's Principle 313 Penny Wise 315 Prediction by Proxy 317 Tuppence 319 Meet Me on the Road 223 A Woven and Cut Case 325 Autopilot 326 Direct Link (Featuring Bill Reid's "Automatic Discovery") 329 The Custodial Card 333 The Fan and Weave Controls 335 The Fan and Weave Control 335 The Fan and Weave Double Control 337 Brainweave 338 The Obedient Faro 346 Spell by the Numbers 349 Paraspell 353 Collinspell 357 Arab Roto-pack 365 What a Party! 369 Late Night Location 372 Auto-discovery 374 The Elmsley Rising Card 376 CHAPTER SEVEN: Stray Stacks 383 Computer Dating 385 Empty and Full 387 Wedded Ambitions 389 Topsy-turvy Stay-stack 391 Parity Failure 392 Tell Me Three Times 396 Future Stock 398 Through Darkest Peirce 401 Blind Stud 406 Mental Boxer 410 Kingfisher 414 Pursuit of Thought 419 CHAPTER EIGHT: The Dazzle Act 423 The Dazzle Act 425 The Properties 427 Fate's Datebook 433 Cold Steel 440 The Tale of the Old Timer 449 Dazzle 463 Tour de Force 471 Notes on Structure 481 Bibliography of Works by Alex Elmsley 485