The 8th Maneuver

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Luke Jermay’s

The 8th Maneuver

Written by

Luke Jermay

Design by

Andy Leviss

Published in the U.S. by

A² Productions

35 Harbor Point Boulevard, Suite 405

Dorchester, MA 02125-3207

http://www.asquaredproductions.com

Luke Jermay

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©

Copyright 2002, Luke Jermay

First U.S. edition, June, 2002

Originally published in the U.K. by Merla, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced in
any form without the explicit written permission of both the author
and the publisher.

The 8th Maneuver

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Let us first scrutinize exactly how The 8th Maneuver appears to your
audience:

A bystander is invited to join the performer at his table. The per-
former explains that he will attempt to transmit information to the
particpant. He removes a pack of cards from his pocket and explains
that he is going to mentally transmit the name of three separate cards
to her. The performer then removes one card from the deck, shows it
to no one, and places it face down onto the table.

He then asks the participant to close her eyes and allow her mind to
construct a playing card, starting at the corner and building out. He
asks her if she has done this, and she replies, “Yes, I am getting the
Three of Hearts”

The performer turns the tabled card over and, sure enough, it is the
Three of Hearts. He offers another attempt; this time, he removes a
card and shows it to everyone in the room except for the participant.
Once again, he asks her to gently close her eyes and construct an
image of a card. She does so, and then names it out loud. Sure
enough, it is the very same card placed onto the table moments
before.

Finally, the performer shuffles the pack of cards and asks another
spectator to remove one and, without looking at it’s face, place it onto
the table top. The participant is asked to construct one last image in
her mind. She names her card, and sure enough it proves to be the
tabled card.”

•

This effect makes use of something that Richard Busch, in his land-
mark book Peek Performances termed, the “participant peek”.

So what exactly is a participant peek?

Good question, and here is an even better answer from Richard:

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“[A participant peek is] what only a participant, an assistant or even a
stooge is allowed to see.”

In the effect we are dealing with, no pre-arranged stooges are neces-
sary; you will actually use an instant stooge technique. Through a
series of covert maneuvers, you will make clear to a participant what
she is to do in order for the effect to succeed.

Let us discuss the somewhat daunting notion of an instant stooge. I
enjoy the employment of instant stooging techniques in many of my
effects. I feel that, when combined with further layers of deception,
they can make for an enchanting and bold deception.

Many performers are worrisome of such techniques. It would seem
those people are afraid that either the audience will see that some-
thing is not quite as it should be, or the participant will not play their
role out correctly. These worries can cause many to brush these
techniques aside as unpractical or unreliable.

This is in no way the case. One of the finest examples of the instant
stooge concept can be found in my good friend Kenton Knepper’s
fantastic effect, “Southwest Miracle”, which is described in great
detail on Kenton’s priceless Wonder Words audio tapes, and can be
seen in action on the Desert Brainstorm, Volume One video.

The reason it is such a magnificent effect is the coupling of the
Instant Stooge Technique with some wonderfully ambiguous double
talk that makes for some powerful deceit.

The same notions have been applied to The 8th Maneuver in order to
safeguard the instant stooge technique, and to enhance the effect in
the eyes of the rest of the audience.

Let us now look at the methods in which the participant is induced to
assist in producing a graceful and audacious deception.

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For ease of learning, I have broken the effect into three separate
stages:

1. The Methods of Instant Stooging
2. The Presentation
3. The Script

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The Methods of Instant Stooging
In order for the effect to succeed, we need to allow the assisting
spectator to become aware of which cards have been placed onto the
table without the rest of the audience becoming aware of how or
when this knowledge is passed on.

I began working on this effect after using something for many years
in which it appeared as though one spectator read another’s mind by
naming a selected card. This standard effect involves controlling a
card to the bottom of the deck, which is then reverse fanned in front
of a spectator, who is told, “Please name the one card that is very clear
to you.”

The spectator has no choice but to name the card on the face, as no
others are visible due to the nature of the reversed fan.

When designing this effect, I wished to achieve a similarly bold and
striking deception, but to remove the clutter of the deck and only
have one card on the tabletop at any time.

I then decided that the most practical and deceptive method of
stooging the spectator would be as follows:

Take two different coloured cards, for example the six of clubs and
the three of hearts. With a sharp knife, cut from both cards one index
corner. Make each index corner roughly equal. I also round off the
sharp corners. Now adhere the two index corners back to back with a
glue stick.

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You now have a double-faced index that can be easily hidden in a
classic or finger palm position, and will in a moment be used as a tool
for instant stooging.

If you were to classic palm this index in your left hand, and seat the
spectator on your right side, you could appear to be making gestures
with your hands, and in truth be letting the spectator know which
card she is to name by secretly exposing the index in the palm to the
spectator.

This index corner gimmick can be flipped over in the hand, and a
different card will be visible. We have so far dealt with the first two of
three instant stooge techniques.

Occasionally, in formal performances, I will attach this instant stooge
index to a pull or holdout device in my jacket. I can then allow it to
shoot into my sleeve when I no longer need it. I have also included a
method that can be used without the pull later on in this manuscript.

The third and final instant stooge method used is actually contained
within the confines of a normal card box. From an old pack of cards,
remove a court card and slide it (facing outwards) under the cello-
phane wrapping around the case of your deck of cards. I place my
court card on the side of the pack that bears the name of the brand of
cards being used, not the side that has the half moon cut out.

Let us now look at how we can combine all these elements together in
order to create the desired effect.

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The Presentation
1. Begin with the index gimmick classic palmed in your left hand (I
always have my gimmick red card facing out to begin with). Have the
court card in the cellophane wrapping. The deck begins with the
matching court card to the one under the cellophane, on top of the
cased deck.

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2. Remove the deck from the case, being careful not to expose the
gimmick in palm, or the underside of the box (which houses the
court card). Put the case away in your outer left jacket pocket. Intro-
duce the effect as detailed in the script, which follows.

3. Have a spectator join you, and have her sit to your right. Take the
time to greet her and establish a friendly, warm rapport.

4. After explaining exactly what is to happen (as detailed in the
script), you appear to make one or two gestures toward the partici-
pant while explaining what she is to do. Despite their completely
innocent appearance, these gestures veil so much more.

5. If you turn your body slightly to the right, allowing the audience to
see your empty right palm and the back of your apparently empty left
hand. To the audience, everything looks fine; meanwhile, the partici-
pant sees the index gimmick and, thanks to our script, understands
what she is to do next. I make some simple, apparently unconscious
gestures with my hands while talking to her. Do not overemphasize
these gestures—they should appear as though you are simply “talking
with your hands”.

6. You will now, under cover of the participant closing her eyes and
receiving your mental transmissions, simply allow the gimmick to fall
from a classic palm position into what in coin magic is referred to as
fingertip rest. Now, allow the gimmick to turn over completely and
then push it back into classic palm. Alternatively, you could simply
allow it to fall into finger palm and you are ready to continue. This is
not as hard as it reads. No one is watching your hands at this point in
the effect, and I think you’d have to agree that this is the best time to
do any kind of sleight.

7. Run through the deck, again being careful not to expose the
gimmick, and remove the card that matches the side of the index
gimmick that was shown to the participant moments before. In my
case, I always palm the gimmick red card out first, so I would remove
the Three of Hearts. Place this card face down onto the tabletop,

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showing it to no one.
8. You will now ask the participant to name the card she is receiving
from you. Thanks to our gimmick and script, she will name the Three
of Hearts. Turn the card face up and show it to everyone. Have the
participant open her eyes and show her that she was correct. This is
an interesting point that is worth taking a moment to discuss. As you
are aware, in reality the participant already knows that she is right,
but the audience is not aware of this fact. To make things seem
consistent with the audience’s beliefs, remember to show the partici-
pant the card and, as you will see in the script, congratulate her on
her success.

9. You will now repeat the first instant stooge method, in which you
appear to be gesturing toward the spectator but in fact are allowing
them to see the gimmick in your left palm. Having already reversed
the gimmick to reveal the opposite side, you will now be showing the
participant a different card. She closes her eyes again, and you run
through the deck removing the card matching the gimmick. Show
this card (in our example the Six of Clubs) to the rest of the audience.

10. Repeat the naming procedure as outlined in the script. Have the
participant open her eyes and name the card. Pick it up once more
and show her that she was right.

11. Now all that remains is the final and easiest instant stooge tech-
nique of all. You will first ditch the palmed gimmick, by simply
reaching for the card case in your left jacket pocket, removing the
case, and leaving the gimmick behind. Place the case, court card
down, on the table. Be careful not to allow anyone to see the card.

12. Now you will need to force the top card of the deck on another
spectator. I assume you have your own favourite method for doing
this, so none is offered here.

13. After the card is forced, ensure that no one looks at it, and place it
face down on the table. You now, to the audience, appear to be simply
placing the rest of the deck away in the card case. In fact, after return-
ing the deck to the box, you place the boxed deck into your pocket

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and directly flash the the court card to the seated participant.
14. Now repeat the sequence of having the participant close her eyes
and visualize a playing card. Then have her open her eyes and name
aloud the card she saw. She will obviously say the correct card. All
that remains is to turn the card over on the tabletop and take the
applause that I am sure will follow.

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The Script
Now that we understand the basic when and how of the effect, let’s
take a deeper look into the script used to tie all the deceptions to-
gether and make the whole thing appear elegant. The words in bold
are said with either a harder or lighter tone depending upon which
works best for your own splendid style.

“I am going to try something else; in fact, this is one of the hardest things
that I do. People often ask why is it that some people can read thoughts and
others can’t. The answer is very simple. People just don’t practice. In fact,
the best way to practice such a thing is by trying to build a psychic relation-
ship with another person. This is exactly what we are going to do.

I need someone to help me with this, Madam, would you mind coming up
here?”

(Participant joins performer at table)

“As intuitive and intelligent as you are, you would have to agree you are not
psychic...correct? We could just sit here and discuss exactly what that means,
but instead let’s actually try something. How surprised would you be if you
were in fact a person with some unused psychic potential?”

(I try to engage the participant in conversation to build a stronger feel-
ing of rapport.)

“Well, tonight we are hopefully going to work together to make something
really fantastic happen, and have a bit of fun at the same time. I am going
to remove one of these cards and place it onto the table. I would like you to

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focus your attention. Look, don’t worry about what you have to do—you
have all the answers staring you in the face, you simply need to say
them.”

(As the above is delivered, I gesture in front of the participant, turning
my body slightly to the right as mentioned earlier in the text. The
participant will now be aware of the fact that we are working together to
create something impressive. I have as much as told her so. I have also
told her to simply say what I am showing her, the index gimmick. De-
spite these clear instructions being received by the participant, the rest
of the audience perceives something very different.)

“I would like you to simply relax and close your eyes. Let your eyelids close
softly together and focus all your imagination on that playing card. I would
like you to first of all turn the colour up very brightly”

(This is why I use the red card as the first card, it is impossible to make
a black card bright. This also helps to keep the participant on the right
track.)

“Now I want you to imagine that card forming in your mind. Start with
the very corner you saw and make it larger until you can see all the details
of that card.”

(To the audience, it looks as if the participant is visualising a card she
has merely thought of; in fact, she is visualising the card you showed
them. By saying “start with the corner and work your way out,” the
participant now fully understands that she is to use the gimmick to
construct her card)

“When you have the full image in your mind, I want you to open your eyes
and name the card you saw out loud”

(Again the use of language such as “the card you saw” ensures that the
particpant names the card they were shown thanks to our invisible gim-
mick.)

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At this point, she will name the card you want her to. Under the cover
of her naming the card and opening her eyes, you will turn the gimmick
over as described earlier in the text. The first major hurdle in the effect
is over. After this point, you can relax, as it is certain that the partici-
pant understands her role and everything is working as planned. Turn
over the card on the table and show her and everyone else that she is
right.

“Okay, perfect. You are doing great. Just like before, get an image of a
card in your mind. Focus. Now close your eyes and expand on it.”

(Pick up the card on the table, return it to the deck, and run through
the deck to remove the second card. Show the audience the card and
then place it on the table.)

“ I would like you to name out loud the card you saw”

(She will again name the correct card. At this point, have her open her
eyes and show her that she was correct again. You’ll find that partici-
pants often act surprised here, which is a nice touch. Congratulate her
on her performance so far.)

“This time we will do it slightly differently. I would like you, sir, to reach
forward and select one of these cards. Perfect. No one will look at it just yet,
and we will place it onto the table.”

(At this point, I have reached into my pocket and ditched the gimmick
in the action of removing the case, and forced the top court card on a
spectator. This card is placed face down on the table, and the deck is
returned to the case. The statement about things being done differently
this time is taken on two separate levels by the audience and the partici-
pant. To her, you have said that she is not looking at the gimmick
anymore, which is no longer in your hands anyway. To the audience,
you appear to be talking about the selection process of the card.)

“We will not use these. Again, focus your attention”

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(Here, I give the deck in the case a slight flick, drawing the participant’s
eye to it. She now knows the card she is to name again.)

“Excellent, close your eyes once more. Now I want you to see all those lines
and colours coming through to you. Make a large picture of it in your
mind.”

(This serves the purpose of telling the spectator to name the court card.
She will start to visualise the lines and colours that only a court card can
display.)

“Okay, for the final time, open your eyes and name the card you saw.”

(She will name the court card; turn the card over for a stunning finish)

•

Keeping the Secret
Let’s briefly look at the way I finish the effect, ensuring that the
participant will keep quite about our little game.

One of the most effective ways is to simply say, “Fantastic! You were
great! Please don’t tell anyone how you did that. Thank you for your
help.”

The participant, of course, takes this differently than the rest of the
audience. The audience sees this statement as nothing more than a
cute line or joke. The participant understands that it is a request for
her to keep quite about what happened while she experienced her
momentary bout of Psychic ability. This wonderful idea is the think-
ing of Kenton.

Another idea is to add a simple gentle pat on the back as this is said.
This seems to add an air of importance to the participant, but looks
completely normal to your audience.

If you combine these two ruses, your secret will certainly remain safe.

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Notes
It is important that I communicate to the audience a belief in what I
am supposedly doing, i.e., sending mental impressions of the card I
have placed on the table. If I elegantly, and with total commitment,
pour my energy into communicating this idea through my perfor-
mance, the effect is heightened tenfold.

I typically start with a routine that involves the entire audience and
apparently finds a spectator who is in the right mind set to be used in
the next effect. I explain that I am going to throw some thoughts out
into the audience, and they are to try to pick up on them. I then
begin by going through several psychological forces in larger groups,
asking the people who thought of the correct items to raise their
hands. I find a person who has kept her hand up the entire time to
come up and join me to try something much more difficult. This is a
nice way of getting everyone in on the action, and, because many
people will have gotten the right items during the psychological
forces, tends to add more power to the effect, as they feel it could
have been them. In fact, I have even had people come up after the
effect and tell me they picked up on the right cards the entire time!

Here are a few effective psychological forces to get you started:

If you ask somebody to quickly name:

• A colour, it will likely be red
• A flower. the common choice will be a rose
•Two simple shapes, they will likely be a triangle and a circle

•

The script has been written to try to elicit a stronger response from
your audience. It features many of the Wonder Words so close to all
our hearts.

Recently. a friend suggested beginning the effect with a near miss, and
then continuing on the final two times with the participant succeed-
ing. I cannot guide you away from this idea strongly enough. If the

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participant is wrong the first time, she will become confused and
ignore your guidance the second time, since the first time it was
incorrect. I recommend that you praise the participant very highly
each time she names the correct card. It helps let her know that she is
doing the right thing.

I hope you will enjoy practicing this effect, but most of all I hope you
can get the same amount of joy out of performing as I do every time I
use The 8th Manoeuvre

•

Credits:
“The Southwest Miracle” can be found on Kenton Knepper’s Wonder
Words as well as on the Desert Brainstorm,Volume One video. It is a
fantastic effect, and I urge you to go out and track it down, you will
not be disappointed.

The participant peek was first termed by Richard Busch in his land-
mark book Peek Performances, a book full of powerful material and
thought provoking performance philosophy.

The work on “Keeping the Secret” was greatly inspired by the teach-
ings of Kenton Knepper in his Wonder Words audiotapes.

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A long and warm cuddle, to all of the following who have been more
than generous with their time and expertise:

Mum

Life without parents would be very pointless and to say the least

something of a none starter.

Kat

For the proofreading and so much more.

Kenton Knepper

For the inspiration and his uncommon generosity, as well as his

editing skills!

Ryan Adams

For the musical accompaniment writing, when I really should have

been doing something else

All at International Magic

London’s finest magic establishment

I sincerely apologise to anyone who feels they

should have been thanked and was not.

Consider yourself thanked.

•

Contact:
Luke Jermay
18 Warner Close
Billericay
Essex
CM11 2LA
England

[e-mail]

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