THE MENE TEKEL DECK

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 deck it consists of 26 ordinary cards and 26 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 26 pairs of cards, one short and one
ordinary card of the same suit and value in each pair.
To construct such a deck 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 26 cards. Then from the second
pack take 26 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 1/16 of an inch. This may be done
with a photo-print trimmer, or, better still, a book-binder’s guillotine if you
have access to one. Having thus shortened one set of card, arrange the whole
52 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 deck 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.
1. The spectator, having noted his card, replaces it in any part of the pack
which you at once square up very openly. Request him to blow on the top
card, name the card he drew, and turn the top card, it is his card. If it is
desired to repeat the trick you will have to find the odd one and again bring it
on top of its duplicate.
2. The duplicate may be revealed by holding the pack a short distance
above the table, secretly push the card a little off the pack sideways, and the
action of dropping the pack will cause the card to turn over and appear face
up.
3. The card may be forced right out of the pack and passed through the
table. To do this secretly wet the back of your right hand. Show the spectator
how you wish him to apply pressure. Put the back of your right hand right on
top of the pack and your left hand palm downwards on that. Press down
firmly and the top card will adhere to the back of your right hand, which you
pass under the table top. The spectator places his hands on the pack in the
same way and presses firmly. Have the card named and produce it from
under the table.
4. As the spectator notes his card secretly glimpse the top card. Tell him
to concentrate his thoughts on the name of his card and you read his mind in
the usual fashion first getting the color of his card, then the suit and finally
the value. By having the card returned to the top the pack will be in order for
another demonstration.
5. After the card has been selected and the shift made bringing the
duplicate to the top, put the pack in your left outside coat pocket for a
moment thumbing off the top card and leaving it in the pocket. Bring the
pack out again under pretence of having forgotten to have the chosen card
replaced. Have it pushed into the pack and at once place the pack in your
right hand pocket. Have the card named and order it to pass across into the
left pocket, from which you produce it.
6. After the return of the card to the middle, square up the cards very
openly, then hold the pack upright in your right hand, face of the bottom card
towards the spectators. Order the card to rise and push up the top duplicate
card with tips of the first and second fingers. It will appear to rise from the
middle of the deck.

CONTROLLING SEVERAL CARDS

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.
 CARD INTO POCKET. A SECOND METHOD

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.

FROM A HAT
J. F. Orrin

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.

CARD AND NUMBER

J. F. Orrin

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 15, 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 14 cards on to the table, reversing their order and bringing the duplicate to
the bottom of the 14 cards. Show the 15th 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 14 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 15th position as
required.

ONE IN FOUR
J. F. Orrin

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 deck 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 deck 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.

THE POCKET RISING CARD

J. F. Orrin

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 vest pocket. Pass the needle through the bottom of the pocket
and thence inside the vest and pants and finally through the lining at the top
of the left pants 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 vest pocket and then
rise from it. The necessary motive power is given by your thumb which you
slip into the ring in your left pants pocket and pull gently downwards.

CARDS AND SLATES

Gravatt

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.

COINCIDENCE MENE TEKEL

Gravatt

For this effect, which Mr. Grvatt considers one of the best of the tricks of
its type extant, you require a Mene Tekel deck having red backs, and an
ordinary deck 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 deck, 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 deck 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 you 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.