Читать книгу Expert Card Technique - Jean Hugard - Страница 42

THE CHARLIER PASS

The shift that goes by this name is credited generally to that mysterious personage, Charlier, though this is disputed by French writers. The sleight has been the vortex of a controversy which has raged for many years: Can it, or can it not, be performed imperceptibly? Merlin, in his book, has written that the transposition of the packets invisibly by this pass is impossible; on the other hand the senior collaborator of this volume has seen Charles Bertram use it as an instantaneous color change with perfect success. Although Bertram disclaimed any special dexterity with the sleight he was able to do it eighty times a minute. When he used it as a color change he applied the pass in this way:

a. Color Change

1. Hold the pack vertically in the left hand, face outwards, with the thumb at the upper side, the second, third and fourth fingers at the lower side and the first finger curled at the bottom of the deck.

2. Move the hand outwards about six inches and call attention to the face card, naming it.

3. Bring the hand back to its original position at the same time dropping half the pack onto the left palm, transpose the two packets in the usual way by pushing upwards with the first finger and letting them fall onto the left palm upon which the packet controlled by the first finger is dropped. In making this movement turn the hand over rapidly to the right, bringing it momentarily back upwards, and drop the thumb to the inner end of the face card, Fig. 1. Instantly turn the hand up again, Fig. 2, and quickly move the thumb over the face card from the bottom to the top, Fig. 2. Accompany the action with some such remark as this: “You see, I merely rub my thumb over the card and it changes completely.”

The illusion depends upon the rapid twist of the wrist downwards and upwards and the passage of the thumb over the face of the card which conceal the smaller movements of the cards completely.