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 sh...

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 ...

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 numbe...

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 ...

A FAKE is required consisting of two pieces of cardboard, a little larger than a card, fastened together around two sides and one end byadhesive 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 midw...

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 c...

THE plot of the trick is the usual one. Four A's are placed on a table and three indifferent cards put on each. One pile is chosen, the A's vanish from the other three piles and all four are found in the pile selected. The use of double-faced cards makes the trick easy to work and very convincing...

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 v...

PICK out the four A's and put them on the table face downwards. To show them, take them by their outer ends and turn them over lengthwise. They must be in a packet one on top of the other. Now turn them face down sideways and they will have been reversed. Replace them thus in different parts of t...

A CARD having been freely chosen, returned to the reversed pack and the card well shuffled, take the pack and put it behind your back. Ask what number the spectator would like it to appear at. Strip the card out and put it second from the bottom. Bring the pack forward, show the bottom card, turn...

BEFOREHAND separate the red suits and the black into two packets. Reverse one packet, put the two together and shuffle the pack thoroughly. Show the faces of the cards proving they are well mixed, then separate the reversed packets with an apparent cut as already explained. Until you can do this ...

WHEN a knife blade is thrust into the ruffled pack it will, as has already been seen, rest on the back of the force card. If, however, you want to have the card appear as the bottom card of the upper portion, thrust the point of the knife in a downward direction which will bring it below the shor...

THE card is selected, returned, and the pack wrapped in paper. A knife is thrust through the paper into the pack and the card will rest on the knife either above or below it.

AN EASY but effective force for stage or platform work can be made with the Svengali pack. An unprepared easel is required which has a ledge on which you can stand seven or eight packets of cards. Having shuffled and cut the prepared pack, show the faces all different. Next, while exhibiting and ...