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MAGIC
By
MISDIRECTION
CHAPTER FIETEEN
The ruse is unique in itself. Disguise it truly is. But it disguises purposes rather than things. It supplies a false reason for doing something, for example, and thus conceals the true purpose of the action. It is a crafty expedient, devised and contrived to divert attention from one's real intent.
In the burned bill trick which was discussed in detail earlier in this work, the pushing of the thumb in the envelope was so contrived that it seemed to be an act of merely opening the envelope preparatory to inserting the banknote. But it was not that, of course. Actually the real purpose of the action was to cut a slit in the face of the envelope so that the bill could be stolen ultimately. Thus, it fulfilled the real function of the ruse. It diverted attention from the real purpose by substituting a false purpose.
In some routines of The Multiplying Billiard Ball Trick the vanish of a ball and its apparent recovery from the pocket is a ruse. Apparently the vanish is made for the purpose of demonstrating a transposition. But it is not. The vanish is made to supply an excuse for bringing a new ball from the pocket. This is an added ball, extra to what has already been used and necessary for further multiplication. The real purpose, obtaining a new ball, is disguised as recovering a previously vanished one. It is a cunningly skillful deception as to real purpose.
The familiar Conjurer's Choice is a ruse. Disguised as a means of permitting the spectator's free choice, its real purpose is to force the desire of the performer. "The visible or invisible" transposition of the die choice offered in The Diebox Trick is a ruse. Disguised as intended for a bit of comedy, its real purpose is to load the solid die in the hat.
Earl DeForrest uses an effective ruse in connection with The Thumb Tie. It is used to cover the freeing of his thumbs, after they have been secured in the usual manner. He asks a spectator-assistant to hold up a stick, grasping it by each end. Feigning impatience at the spectator's seeming inability to hold it correctly, he suddenly barks at him sharply, lunging at him as he does so. This is when he frees his thumbs. But at the moment it seems as if the performer might assault his assistant bodily. Thus the movement of freeing the thumbs is disguised as one intended to reprimand the assisting spectator.
This is a dangerous ruse to use, as it could result in ill will to the performer. But it suits DeForrest's style perfectly, as he has a way of doing apparently violent things without antagonizing his spectators. It is taken as part of his style of comedy.
This illustration of an unusual ruse is cited to demonstrate what a broad field the expedient may cover. Notice that it does not necessarily substitute a false purpose for the real one. It diverts attention from the real purpose. So anything that diverts attention from the real purpose may be a ruse.
The diversion may be accomplished through substitution of an apparent purpose that is untrue, as stated before. Yet a new interest, as in the DeForrest example cited, may divert attention from purpose entirely.
One of the most difficult situations confronting the card man in the early stages of his experience is palming a card from the pack. There are many ways of securing the card, from the viewpoint of making the necessary move. Sleights for this purpose range from those that are quite easy of execution to the most difficult. So, if he selects a sleight suited to his ability, the magician is not confronted with a task beyond his powers.
But the most subtle of sleights for this purpose is ineffective, as far as deception goes, if a suitable excuse is not found for having the hands in the required position. This must be an excuse that would reveal the performer's purpose as other than what it actually is. His real purpose, of course, is to steal a card. Attention must be diverted from this real purpose. Probably the most common diversion would be to substitute another purpose.
Do I anticipate disagreement? All sleights for palming off a card must be done with either one or two hands, obviously. If it is the more difficult single-hand move, there must be a reason for holding the pack in one hand, in the somewhat peculiar position required. Certainly the observant spectator will not view holding the pack in this position as a natural action, ordinarily. He will, however, accept it as being natural, if it is natural to a purpose that is obvious to him. If, for instance, the performer should take the pack from his right hand, if he should pick up the pack with his left hand and place it aside, at his left—perhaps to exhibit a card frame, or to take a wallet from his pocket—the position is a natural one. The position of the left hand would be natural to the act of picking up the pack and placing it aside. The identical position would also be the proper one for the one-hand steal.
His dissimulation with the left hand, now burdened with the stolen card, would not have to be so vital. With the proper ruse, the spectator's scrutiny would not be upon the left hand. The spectator's suspicions would not be fixed upon the left band. Why? Because the performer's use of his hands, at this particular stage of the proceedings, would be natural. There would be a reasonable and unsuspicious reason for the performer's hand having come in contact with he pack—even having come in contact in the special position necessary.
But take away this alternative purpose. Eliminate an excuse for handling the pack in this manner, an excuse which seems reasonable to the spectator. Immediately the spectator's suspicions are aroused.
Isn't it obvious that he would suspect that the magician had removed a card? Why else would he have his hand on the pack? With suspicion fastened upon a hand concealing a stolen card, the degree of dissimulation necessary to shake off the scrutiny would be high indeed. With an object as large and as awkward to handle as a card, few can successfully dissemble to that extent.
So a ruse—not necessarily the one cited, however—is absolutely essential for effective deception.
The same holds true of the two-handed methods of palming off a card. An alternative purpose, one that is natural and reasonable to the spectator, is required. Many card men use squaring up the pack as a ruse, others seem to place the pack in the hand perhaps, placing it in the right with the left. The sleight, of course, is accomplished at the moment the two hands are together, the card being palmed in the right, which retains the pack momentarily. Meanwhile some task is performed with the left—perhaps that hand has been used for a necessary gesture, or to indicate someone or something, or to arrange something. The left hand's task having been accomplished, it takes the pack again, leaving the right in possession of the card.
Palming a card onto the deck is quite similar. A reasonable alternative excuse must be found for bringing the hand to the pack. Or for bringing the pack to the hand containing the card. It must be a good, convincing purpose that is made evident to the spectator.
In connection with cards, Robert Madison, of Santa Rosa, Calif., uses an effective ruse with the finger break. The spectator peeks at a card by lifting up the index corner of the pack. When the spectator allows the pack to fall back together again, the pack having been held in the performer's hand meanwhile, the performer inserts the fleshy portion of a finger in the opening and holds a break. The card above the break is, of course, the one peeked at by the spectator.
Now comes the ruse. With the ostensible purpose of demonstrating to another what he wants done, the performer boldly pulls back the cards at the break, picking up the index corner and actually showing the previously selected card to the spectator, meanwhile looking at it himself;
Had he pulled back the corner and looked at the card without using the demonstration excuse, the spectators would have been certain that he was identifying the previous card. But disguised by the ruse, this idea never occurs to them. It seems a natural thing—even an unsuspicious thing—for the magician to show the spectator just how he wants the latter to select a card.
In one of the mental tests developed by Ted Annemann a word is written within an oval inscribed upon a previously folded slip of paper. After the word is written the spectator refolds the billet and hands it to the performer. Forthwith the magician tears it up. He places the pieces in an ash tray and sets fire to them. Ultimately the magician reveals the word. Of course, he has stolen out that portion of the billet that contains the word, and has managed to read it.
A ruse has made it possible. The performer, of course, could not tear out that portion of the billet containing the message, deliberately. The real purpose is disguised as destroying the billet. Perhaps he may use another ruse to actually read the word. He may hold the paper fragment in the palm of his hand. Then, bringing his hand to his forehead, seemingly for the purpose of intensifying his concentration, he reads the word.
The familiar one-ahead message reading method owes its effectiveness to the ruse. The performer's real purpose is to read the contents of the note. But his purpose, from the spectator's viewpoint, seems to be to verify a previously divined billet.
In the familiar Cards To The Pocket many performers use an ostensible purpose of showing the pocket empty as a ruse to disguise loading cards into the pocket. In the act of turning the pocket inside out, the performer's hand, containing the cards, goes into the pocket. It drops the cards, tucks them into the space at the top of the pocket, and pulls the pocket lining out. The spectators believe the performer's purpose is to show the pocket empty. The performer's real purpose is to load the cards.
Many performers use a ruse to disguise the execution of the pass by riffling the cards.
The ruse has been used in illusion work.
One example that comes to mind is a transposition illusion. Two people dress in different costumes. One of the actors has a substitute waiting off stage. This substitute wears a duplicate costume. After the costumes have been donned, the actor, whose substitute is waiting, apparently steps off stage to get some property that has been overlooked—perhaps a piece of rope. In lieu of the original actor, the substitute brings on the property and goes on with the performance. This might, perhaps, allow the original actor to make his way to the rear of the audience. The substitute performer is vanished and the original actor immediately comes running down from the rear of the audience.
Here, the real purpose for stepping off stage is disguised by a ruse.
A well-known rising card method utilizes a short length of thread. One end is secured to a coat or vest button, and the other end is affixed to the top of the card to rise. The card is caused to rise by hooking the thumb or a finger beneath the thread. Lifting the hand causes the card to rise from the pack to the hand. But a ruse disguises the purpose in lifting the hand. The actual purpose, of course, is to lift the card from the pack. But the performer disguises the action as a magical—almost magnetic—lifting motion.
In The Sympathetic Silks Trick the conventional count move is a ruse. The hand containing the pair of silks apparently goes to the opposite hand to pick up another silk. Actually the real purpose is to exchange the separated pair for the connected three. Again a ruse is employed to disguise the act of disconnecting the three tied silks. Apparently still tied together, the silks are folded over. But the motion of slipping the silks apart is disguised as folding them over. The purpose projected to the audience is entirely different from the actual one.
To the magician, as is evident from studying it, the ruse is chiefly valuable for disguising an essential move that cannot be concealed. At the same time, this essential move is one which, were it not given a plausible purpose alternatively, might not be effective in its deception. Diverting the attention from the performer's real purpose, if the ruse is intelligently planned and expertly executed, will accomplish an interpretation to the spectator that will fit the purposes of the deceptionist.
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