Well-Placed Gaffs

John's post about the venerable Svengali Deck brought to mind a few stories about other gaffed decks.

The one that springs to mind immediately is that, of all people, Guy Jarrett was a whiz with a Stripper Deck. In Jim Steinmeyer's excellent book The Complete Jarrett, he explains how this genius-level illusion designer and builder worked, for a time, behind the shop at Clyde Powers' magic shop in New York City (which was, at one time, an outlet for the Mysto Manufacturing Company of New Haven, Conn.). Jarrett's favorite gaff was the Stripper Deck, and he was reported to have such clever and subtle uses for it that he was able to take in all of the "boys" visiting the shop with it's ancient secret.

My other magic shop-related gaffed card story is probably apocryphal, but still entertaining. I heard it told about Jay Marshall, who once saw a demonstrator at Magic, Inc. trying the old trick in which a deck is dropped flat on the magician's working surface and in the process, one card (the top card of the pack) flips over, revealing itself to be the selection. The dodge involved in flipping over the top card is a finicky one, and not sure-fire, though many beginners know it.

According to the story I heard, the demonstrator at Magic, Inc. was having a hard time getting the flip to work. In fact, he found it impossible to get the top card to do a 180 somersault. Jay approached him and, in an effort to help, began demonstrating the "right" way to perform the effect. Problem was, even with all of his experience, Jay couldn't get the flip to work, either!

The reason: the demonstrator had lured Jay into a trap. On top of the pack was a double-backed card. Its presence made the flip-over an utter impossibility!

Those of you with good memories will recall a story about Dai Vernon working a cruise ship and taking advantage of a deck full of double-backed cards. I won't spoil the tale here, but let it suffice to say that the baffling effect Vernon produced with the pack of gimmicked cards was reputation making (which is why magicians continue to talk about it to this day).

Remember, though you may cast off gimmicked cards as old hat or fodder for the budding bafflers, at the right moment, even the oldest chestnut can garner you amazing reactions from those who are not "in the know."