The Forte Flourish

The idea for this method of producing a card came while reading Ernest Earick’s
book By Forces Unseen. “Cross Purposes”, one of the effects in the book, lies on
the concept of a Ben Harris idea in which a card rises crosswise from the deck.
In the following version, rather then the card rising from the deck, all the cards fall
from a vertical position to a horizontal position with the exception of the chosen
card. If you read Ernest Earick’s version of this effect you will see that it doesn’t
relate to this version. Believe it or not the idea came while looking at “figure 178”
of that. This shows a card protruding face up in a vertical position from an
interlaced (half shuffled) face down deck of cards lying horizontally on the table.
Taking the figure into consideration and applying a Steve Forte idea, we came up
with the following method. The Steve Forte sleight enables one to balance a
tabled spread in an upright vertical position.

Figure 1 shows the position of the cards in their vertical position.

In order for the cards to stand upright you must first reverse spread them on the
table. That’s going from right to left rather than a normal table spread which goes
left to right. Figure 2 shows the reverse spread on the table in the perspective of
the viewers.

NOTE: Ignore the perpendicular card in the reversed spread. This card comes
into play later.

Notice that the left side of the spread still contains about half the cards. Regular
spread the cards back over the reversed spread cards. In the end it should look
like you have just spread the cards once, Figure 3.

With this done, you will be able to lift the cards to an upright position. This is
accomplished by placing your right thumb on the top card of the right side of the
spread, and fingers below or underneath the spread. It’s best if you have a close-
up mat, as it will make it easier for you to slide your fingers under the spread.
Lever the packet up, towards yourself, until it’s in the position shown in figure 1.
We believe this belongs to Steve Forte.

In figure 1 you will notice the left index finger positioned at the upper right corner
of the vertical spread, above the right fingers. You’re going to move this finger to
the left of the spread, knocking the upright spread cards down (in a waterfall
fashion) to a horizontal position on the table. Figure 4 shows the index finger
moving to the left.

It’s important not to move your right fingers and thumb. Keep a firm grip on the
cards as the left index finger moves to the left, knocking the spread down. When
done correctly it’s really stunning to watch. The cards seem to take on a waterfall
effect as they cascade down one by one. Figure 5 shows the finished flourish.
Notice that the left index finger now rests on the left side of the horizontal spread.
It is important to follow through with your index finger. This will cause the cards to
be evenly distributed throughout the spread.

As a production:
Have a card selected by a spectator. Place it back in the pack and execute Juan
Tamariz “Perpendicular Control.” This can be found in his book Sonata,
Bewitched Music vol. 1 p. 21. A quick explanation of the move can be given by
looking at Figure 6. The idea is to place a card in the deck and secretly move it
to this position. The actions are very similar to the diagonal push through used in
the Erdnase Diagonal Palm Shift. Instead of palming out the card just straighten
it out with the left little finger to a position show in figure 6. Obviously the right
hand covers these actions. Ernest Earick’s “Longitudinal Steal” (By Forces
Unseen p. 63) may also be used, as the final positions are similar.

End position of Tamariz perpendicular Control (TPC).