IT IS not certainly known who devised this variation of the combination of long and short cards, but the title, 'Mene-Tekel', was first applied to it by the late W. D. Leroy, the well-known magical dealer of Boston. Like the Svengali pack it consists of twenty-six ordinary cards and twenty-six short cards but instead of the short cards being all of the same suit and value, they also are all different, each short card being of the same suit and value as its neighboring ordinary card so that the pack consists of twenty-six pairs of cards, one short and one ordinary card of the same suit and value in each pair.
To construct such a pack obtain two packs of cards, with the same back patterns, the cards preferably being thin and pliable and not too slippery. Thoroughly shuffle one pack and count off twenty-six cards. Then from the second pack take twenty-six cards of the same denomination as in the first and arrange them in the same order. You will then have two packets of cards exactly similar. From the ends of one set shave off about one-sixteenth of an inch. This may be done with a photoprint trimmer, or, better still, a bookbinder's guillotine if you have access to one. Having thus shortened one set of cards, arrange the whole fifty-two in pairs, the short card being the top card of each pair, and the Mene-Tekel pack is set-up.
To show the cards apparently all different riffle the ends slowly before the audience, the faces of the ordinary cards only will show up. Or, you may hold the pack upright, thumb at the top end, and let the cards fall forward on to the left hand, again showing only the faces of the ordinary cards. The pack may be riffle shuffled without disarranging the cards.
To do this, square up the pack by tapping one end on the table to settle the short cards, then while the pack is on end, divide it about in half so that a short card is on the top of the lower portion. Riffle the two halves one into the other in the usual way, the cards will fall in pairs and the sequence of the prepared pack is not destroyed. The pairs will occupy different positions, but each pair will be intact. In similar fashion the pack can be cut indefinitely with complete cuts without separating the pairs, since the cut will always be made at one of the ordinary cards.
To illustrate the use of the pack for controlling a freely chosen card slowly riffle it and request a spectator to insert his forefinger, or a paper knife, anywhere he pleases and take the card next below his finger or the knife. In every case that card will be a short card and the next card (ordinary card) will be the duplicate of the one chosen. As the spectator takes the card raise the portion in the right hand and separate the hands a little, then casually place the two portions of the pack together but put the cards in the left hand on top of those in the right hand. This departure from the regular way of assembling the pack will never be noticed, however, if it is preferred you may openly cut at the point from which the card was removed. The result is that you now have on the top of the pack the duplicate of the card chosen. The card may then be dealt with in any of the following ways.
BRING the duplicate of the first card to the top as already explained, leave the chosen card in the first spectator's hands and go to a second person. When he draws a card do not pass the upper portion to the bottom as before, simply lower the top packet to the side of the lower one and with the thumb of the left hand push the top card of the lower on top of the right-hand packet and replace this packet on top. Thus the duplicate of the second spectator's card is now on top of the pack, and the first person's duplicate card is the second card. You follow exactly the same process for as many cards as you wish to have chosen so that finally you have duplicates of all the cards on the top of the pack, but you must remember that these are in the reverse order to that in which the short cards were drawn.
A CARD having been drawn and the duplicate brought to the top, you very thoughtfully turn your back to enable the spectator to show the selected card to everyone else. Seize the opportunity to note what the top card is and slip it into a pocket. Turn around, have the chosen card replaced, ruffle the pack sharply and name the card. Order it to leave the pack and fly to your pocket, from which you instantly produce it.
HAVE three cards selected and pass the duplicates to the top in the manner explained above. Each spectator then pushes his card into the pack which you square up each time in the fairest possible way. Drop the pack into a borrowed hat and proceed to mix the cards, apparently, by shaking the hat vigorously with a lateral motion which does not alter the relative position of the cards at all. Ask the third person to name his card, reach quickly into the hat and produce it. You simply bring out the top card. In like manner you find the second person's card and finally the third. Or you bring out the three cards in any order the spectators may require, and do it just as easily.
A CARD having been chosen, its duplicate brought to the top, the card itself replaced in the pack and the pack squared up, have a number called, suppose it is fifteen, and announce that you will make the card pass magically to that number. First, however, show that it is not already at that number by dealing off fourteen cards on to the table, reversing their order and bringing the duplicate to the bottom of the fourteen cards. Show the fifteenth card and replace it on the cards in the left hand but so placed that about an inch of the right-hand side overlaps the rest of the cards. Pick up the fourteen cards from the table and apparently place them on the top of the left-hand portion, really slip them under the overlapping card, thus bringing the duplicate card to the fifteenth position as required.
A CARD chosen, duplicate brought to the top as usual, turn your back while the card is shown to all. Take two cards from the bottom of the pack, the bottom card and the third from the bottom and put them on the top. The four cards on the top of the pack will then be all different and the third from the top will be the duplicate of the chosen card.
Have the spectator's card returned to the center of the pack, square the pack and at once deal the four top cards on to a card stand commencing on your right-hand side. Now you must have one of these selected and it must be the third from the right-hand side. Ask someone to call a number between one and four and, of course, the answer will be two or three. If three is chosen, count from the right-hand side, if two is the number called, count from the left. In each case the chosen card is arrived at. The impression left on the minds of the spectators is that, although you did not express yourself any too clearly, still you intended to give a free choice of all four cards.
A FAKE is required consisting of two pieces of cardboard, a little larger than a card, fastened together around two sides and one end by adhesive tape or pasted paper. There should be space enough between the pieces of cardboard to take three cards. Half an inch from the top of each piece and midway between the sides is a hole, large enough for a thread to pass freely. Put a thread between both pieces and make a knot at one end to prevent it slipping right through. Thread the other end in a needle and put the fake in your upper left waistcoat pocket. Pass the needle through the bottom of the pocket and thence inside the waistcoat and trousers and finally through the lining at the top of the left trousers pocket. Withdraw the thread from the needle and tie a small wire ring to the end. If a card is pushed into the fake the thread will be carried down to the bottom of it, and a pull on the thread will cause the card to rise apparently from the pocket.
With a fake thus prepared have a card selected and bring the duplicate to the top. Turn away so that the card may be shown, take the duplicate and slip it into the fake. The real chosen card is then replaced in the pack, the pack squared and you order the card to leave pack, go to your waistcoat pocket and then rise from it. The necessary motive power is given by your thumb which you slip into the ring in your left trousers pocket and pull gently downwards.
YOU require two slates one of which is prepared with a dab of wax. Have these on your table, waxed slate on top of the other. A card having been selected and the duplicate brought to the top, hold the pack in your left hand, pick up the top slate with the right hand and show both sides. Pass the slate to your left hand so that the wax is pressed on the back of the top card. Hold slate and cards in the left hand and pick up the second slate with the right hand. Show both sides of this one. Take both slates in right hand and lay the pack on the table. Put the top slate under the other, which has the card adhering to its lower side, thus bringing the card between the slates. Have the selected card returned to the pack or put in a card box. Order the card to vanish and appear between the slates. Take the slates apart and show the card.
FOR this effect, which Mr. Gravatt considers one of the best of the tricks of its type extant, you require a Mene-Tekel pack having red backs, and an ordinary pack with blue backs.
Show the red-backed cards all different, have a card selected, and bring the duplicate to the top. Take the chosen card and place it casually on the top of the pack, then lift the top two as one, showing the face of the lower one, and place the two, as one card, in a glass tumbler with the backs to the audience. Both cards being the same no suspicion can be attached to this move.
Have the unprepared blue pack shuffled, any card selected but not looked at, and place it in the glass behind the other two cards so that its back is nearest the audience. In your patter lay great stress on the fact that the two cards were freely selected from different packs. Turn the glass around, remove the front card, leaving the duplicate facing the audience. The two cards are the same. Show the red back of the card in your hand, then turn the glass and show the blue back of the other.
~Magic With a Mene-Tekel Pack of Cards~
Contents
Card and Number
Card Into Pocket - A Second Method
Cards and Slates
Coincidence Mene-Tekel
Controlling Several Cards
From A Hat
One in Four
Pocket Rising Card, The
The Mene-Tekel Pack
Controlling Several Cards
Card Into Pocket. A Second Method
From A Hat
J. F. Orrin
Card And Number
J. F. Orrin
One In Four
J. F. Orrin
The Pocket Rising Card
J. F. Orrin
Cards And Slates
Gravatt
Coincidence Mene-Tekel
Gravatt