Jeff Busby’s Secret of the Palmettos Methods and Effects with the Texan '45 Palmetto Deck New Light on the Phantom of the Card Table # Card Magic ¥ Mentalism 4 Gambling Demonstrations #The Secret of the Palmettos ee NCES) PALMETTO BACK Written by Jeff Busby Photographs by Nathan Phillips ® Jeff Busby Magic Inc. # Publishers ¥ Manufacturers # Distributors # The Finest in Magic Books and Props 506 Sixth Street Wallace, Idaho 83873-2249 U.S.A.COPYRIGHT © 1998 by JEFF BUSBY All rights reserved under International and Pan- American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States of America by Jeff Busby Magic Inc. Reproduction or utilization of this work in any form, by any means now known or hereinafter invented, includ- ing, but not limited to, xerography, photocopying and recording, and in any information storage and retrieval system, is forbidden without written permission from the publisher and copyright holder. First edition, First Printing July 1998 Book Design & Typography Jeff Busby Digital Imaging & Photography Nathan Phillips Electronic Design Vicki Busby Layout Mechanicals Jeff Busby Book Manufactured in the United States of America The International Playing Card Company Ltd. claims exclusive trade mark rights in the Ace of Spades, Joker, name, number, back design, case design, and name of finish used on the '45 Texan decks. All art and graphics used with permission. All art and graphics used with permission.CONTENTS Introduction ©... 6... 06 ee eee eee vil CHAPTER 1: HISTORICAL PRELUDE ........ 1 The "Work" Circulates 2... 2... 2.204. 3 The Phantom’s Manuscript Resurfaces ... . . 7 AProblem Posed ... 2.1. + ee eee eee 8 CHAPTER 2: NEW LIGHT ONALEGEND ...... 9 What Really Happened That Night ... 2... 3 Building the Legend ........--4+4. 11 Background to Collusion... 2... ..-.-- 12 "The Battle of the Century"... ... wee 14 The Phantom Goes Public ..,........15 A Letter from Charlie Miller... .....-..- 18 CHAPTER 3: THE WORK AND ITS BACKGROUND . 21 End Marking... 1. eee ee ees 2.21 The Evolution of Gambler's Edge Work... .. 23 The Real Work ......-.. Ae ee ees 24 Johnson TipsIt.. 2.0.2... ee oe 24 Edge Work forSale .. 2.2... 2.2 ee ee 25 CHAPTER 4: MAGICIANS AND EDGE WORK ... . 27 Cutting Any Card Called .. 2... 2. ee 28 Downs’ Work .. 2... ee ee 29 One-Way Edge Marking. ....... wees 29 Tarbell's Work . 2... ...- tea » 29 Hilliard’'s Omnibus Exploration. ........ 30 Crimp Edge Work... 2. 2. oe ee 30 Jack McMillen’s Work 2. 1 7 - De e e 31 J.G. Thompson Jr.'s Method ....... ». 32 Walsh's Method... 6.2.2. - +e ee ee ee 33 Merlini's Method ..........-2--05 33 Kosky’s Method. .. 2... 6-2... eee ee 33 Mario's Edge Reader... 2... 1 eee 34Gene Grant's Method... .........0.-. 35 Karroll Priest's Method... 2... 1 eee 35 The "Cardini" Deck... 2.2... ee eee 36 Burton's Devil's Deck Variant... ....... 36 No Playing Cards -- Strictly for the Mentalist . . 36 CHAPTER 5: THE TEXANS AND THE SECRET . . . 40 Discovering the Secret of the Palmettos. . . . . 42 Understanding the Work .. 2... ....... 44 A First Exercise. 2. 6... ee ee ee 46 Puttingin the Work... ......... 1. .49 The Advantages of the Texan... ....... 52 CHAPTER 6: BASIC CONCEPTS AND HANDLING . . 53 TiltCheck 2... 2... 0.02.00 0000. 53 Basic Cut Location... 1... ee ee 54 What About a Little Finger Break? ...... 56 IfYou Miss... 1... ee ee ee 57 Thousands of Tricks .. 2... 2.22200. 58 A One-Way Street... 2.0... 2 2 ee ee ee 60 One-Way Glass... 2... 2... ee 62 Dumping the Work... . 2... 2-2-2008 64 CHAPTER 7: CONTROLS AND PLACEMENTS .. . . 65 As a Substitute for a Top or Bottom Key . . . . 65 Bottom Key Placement ............. 66 Top Key Placement ........ sen eee 68 Double Control... ..- 1... pe ee BB Shuffle Throwoff ............0---- 69 Mental and Physical .. 2.2... ....0.0.0. 70 CHAPTER 8: THAT "FREELY SELECTED" CARD . . 72 Another Historical Side Trip... .. eee TB The Force at Your Fingertips .......... 75 Basic Fingertip Force... 2... 2.7 ee 77 Using the Texan Key to Force Other Cards . . . 79 CHAPTER 9: EXPANDING THE PRINCIPLES ....81 On-the-Fly Speller ...... re 81 Two Fly Don't BotherMe ............ 82 Super Fly... 2 ee 83 Strictly Mental .. 2... 0. ........., 86 More Aspects... 1... eee ee ee . 86CHAPTER 10: THE TEXAN CARD STAB... .... 89 Pack Stabber I Pack Stabber II Pack Stabber III CHAPTER 11: GAMBLING DEMOS & SHUFFLES . . 97 In Lieu ofthe Punch ..... 2... On the Miracle Ace Cutting... . . The Texans and Shuffle Work . Zarrow Shuffle Controls ...... The Five Card Mental Force : Fingerprint Detection... . 2... Recycling Shuffle... ......... Automatic Block Transfer 2... ...... CHAPTER 12: SHUFFLES, SUBTLETY, & MATH . 110 The Hi-LoStack ...........000.- Magnetic Blackjack. ..........- Riffle Shuffle Convincer .. 2.2... . About the Tabled Riffle Faro The GrayCode .. 2... 2... ee eeeINTRODUCTION his book, THE SECRET OF THE PALMETTOS, gives away several methods, ideas, and even underground history I've guarded for three decades. As I was writing this, I kept thinking, “Why tip that?" But, I have. T've kept the secret of the palmettos to myself, sharing it only with two other magicians: P. Howard Lyons, editor of the legendary Tbidem magazine, and Charlie Miller, quite simply the best magician Tever met. I'm honored to have had the privilege of knowing both. Bath were baffled with the material I'll explain in this book. Neither had any clue to the methods, and both were delighted when T revealed the secrets. As far as J am aware, during thelr lives, each respected my wish to keep these methods secret. Howard flattered my work in the final issue of Ibidem when, at long last, it saw print near the end of 1980. After mentioning the books ofa number of cardmen who had published during the long hiatus between the previous issue and the final Ibidem, he wrote, “So has Jeff Busby, but what he hasn't put in print ah!" The material in this book is a portion of what I haven't put in print until now — part of what Howard was so excited about. Though the methods and effects I'l explain here will definitely bewilder hard core cardmen, I have never worked on material expressly designed for that tiny audience. To me, that’s a waste of time. The ideal is to fool everyone, of coursc, but magic is not really magic unless you perform it for laymen. I'd prefer you use these methods to make laymen think you can do almost anything with a deck of cards. And, I should tell you this: I've never minded. interspersing card effects with mentalism. The effect of an off-the-cuff brain-busting miracle where you apparently read their minds, takes what you do out of the realm of “just card tricks.” What you won't find in this book is another tedious method of performing another technical variation of an Ace Assembly. What you will find are a number of methods that allow you to control cards, stacks of cards, force cards, and perform some strong effects, all with an aura of absolute freedom. Some of the material [’ll describe is very simple and easy-to-do, while other methods are quite the opposite.Page viii Introduction It would be unwise to claim everything in this book is original. Far from it. I've built on the ideas and methods of the great cardmen of the past, and they are owed credit for the many scattered concepts I've synthesized into a system with the Texan deck. Once you understand what you can do with a deck of Texan ‘45 Palmetto back cards, I feel a whole new world of thinking will open up to you. I'm giving you the tools to work miracles. It’s up to you to use them. Jeft Gusby Jeff Busby Wallace, Idaho July 1998CHAPTER HISTORICAL PRELUDE at you'll discover in this chapter and the next are pre- viously unrevealed facts behind a legend that persists to this day — the legend of the “Phantom at the Card Table.” As you read the discussion of the Phantom’s published history, keep in mind these lines from T.S. Eliot's 1920 poem Gerontion: History has many cunning passages, contrived corridors And issues, deceives with whispering ambitions, Guides us by vanities. In one fell swoop, with a single performance one night, the Phantom earned fame as the best card man in the world — an awesome stature still discussed today. But on what foundation was the Phantom’s reputation based? What really happened that night? Is what is generally known about the Phantom’s work true? Those questions, and more, will be dealt with here, as an introduction to a principle. In his “Magic Around New York” column in the July 1930 issue of The Sphinx, Max Holden reported the details of a visit by Walter Irving Scott. “The Phantom of the Card Table,” to Al Baker’s Brooklyn home the night of June 14, 1930. Besides Holden and Baker, the others gathering round for a demonstration of the blindfolded Phantom’'s card work were Richard “Cardini” Pitchford, S, Leo “Sam” Horowitz, T. Nelson “Tommy” Downs, and Edward J. “Eddie” Mc- Laughlin. Scott had traveled from Providence, Rhode Island, with Edward G. McGuire, then nicknamed “Eddie.” but later to call himself “Tex” in his theatrical persona as “The Gambler from the Golden West.” The major player in the Inner Circle — Dai Vernon — was absent.Page 2 Historical Prelude He was traveling the resorts of the South engaged in his “summer work” of cutting silhouettes. au a ry ai The night of June 14, 1930. Seated around the table, left to right: Tommy Downs, Max Holden, Walter Scott, Sam Horowitz, Eddie McLaughlin. Standing: Al Baker, Eddie McGuire, Car- dini. (The Sphinx, August 1930.) A long passage describing Scott's demonstration appeared in Holden’s article, Certain extracts are worth repeating here. (Oddly. not mentioned in Holden's article is that Scott performed at least the first part, and possibly all, of his routine blindfolded.) What appears below is Holden's writing as originally published, with all the terseness and grammatical errors, not the edited version that has appeared in print a few times since: Eddie McGuire of Providence accompanied by Walter Scott also came into N.Y. to meet Tommy Downs and what a feast of magic we had. A special session at Al Baker's home with Cardini, Sam Horowitz, Downs, McLaughlin, McGuire, Scott and the writer. This is one event which was worth a lot as we saw Walter Scott from Providence perform miracles with cards, and | pass the crown to Walter Scott. Without a doubt Walter Scott is the cleverest man with a pack of cards in the world ... Anyway here is a description of a few miracles of Scott: A pack of cards borrowed and shuffled by Al Baker. Scott seated at the end table takes the cards in hand and deals out hands. I suggested 6 hands and 6 hands were dealt out. Now again the cards were handed to Al Baker to shuffle and again placed into Scott's hand and there was no chance to make a pass or do anything unfair with the pack. Again six hands were dealt out on a table. Again a shuffle by Baker and again sixhandsThe Secret of the Palmettos Page 3 were dealt out until there was a full poker hand or deal. On turning over the hand of Scott there was four aces and a king. We were all watching very close and none of us could detect any false moves or anything unfair. Again the cards were thoroughly shuffled and again Scott held a royal high flush against the other hands which were all seemingly good hands. Now another pack of Al Baker's cards were borrowed and Al asked to shuffle and place in Scott's hand (one hand only). Now Scott says. “It is easy to tell the top card to me, but if! can look down and tell you that the fourth card down is an Ace what would you say?” and on Al looking at the fourth card it was an Ace. the fourth card from the bottom was also un Acc, and also cutting the pack into two heaps Scott handed me one heap and says “You have one King and three Aces.” and sure enough I had. Holden added a passage that would irritate Dal Vernon, then the reigning “King” of the New York “Inner Circle,” for a half-century: I cannot begin to tell you of the miracles of Scott but he is really uncanny and I think that I have seen the greatest card magicians all over the world: Dr. Elliott, Baker. Leipsig [sic], Hunter, O'Connor, Milton. Zingone, Dexter, Cardini, Jimmy Thompson, Nofike, Scarney [sic], Erens, Nelson Downs, and last of all Dave Vernon whom I have always admired and Dave to me ts the greatest in cards but now I have to pass the crown to Scott and the others all agree with me. After telling how badly Cardini — a top card man and an expert dealer of seconds — had been fooled, Holden raved about Scott's work again: Now I know that many of my readers will think that I am wrong in my explanations but J will leave it to any of the others if am wrong and I think they will alf agree with me I am as much at sea as anyone, Can't explain or give any clue. There is simply no explanation and this is about the first time I have ever been without an explanation or clue to a magical effect or sleight and I have had training with the best: Devant, Maskelyn [sic]. Hunter, Baker, Downs. and many, many others. William Frazee, in his “Squawks” column in the same issue of The Sphinx echoed Holden's comments, saying, “Walter Scott, I think he is from Providence, was the sensation among the card magicians of New York ... His work is uncanny ... [SJhould other write-ups appear about Walter Scott, please do not think they are exaggerated, as Scott is really a sensation.” Frazee quoted raves about Scott's work from Downs, Nate Leipzig. and Max Holden. The Phantom's reputation for miracles quickly spread. Today, the legend of Scott's work has reached almost mythic proportions. The “Work” Circulates A few weeks later, McGuire sent a manuscript to Sam Horowitz called THE PHANTOM AT THE CARD TABLE, explaining what purported to be Scott's methods. As McGuire commented years laterPage 4 Historical Prelude in Linking Ring: “The manuscript was primarily written for Leo Horowitz whose artistry with a deck of cards was greatly admired by both Mr. Scott and myself.” The truth was, for years McGuire had been trying to curry favor with Horowitz, one of the most secretive of the New York Inner Circle. Before July 11, 1926, Horowitz had received several letters from McGuire. As McGuire wrote in his July 15, 1926 letter to Tommy Downs (including a copy of the first letter Horowitz had bothered to write): “Horowitz did not answer my letters until I wrote him on Malini's letter-head and told him I was acting as Malini’s manager.” Even with McGuire's early attempt to impress him, Horowitz remained cagey, probably realizing McGuire's stated position as Malini’s “manager” was a quite temporary illusion. (McGuire's letter, describing Malint’s show in detail to Downs, was apparently passed. by Downs to Faucett Ross. Several years later, Ross gave it to Charlie Miller. Ross and Miller gave Frank Csuri access to it in 1960. Csuri Tetyped the letter which was sent to Lewis Ganson for Dai Vernon's MALINI AND HIS MAGIC published in 1963. Extracts from the letter appeared in Csuri's mammoth manuscript THE MAGIC OF FAUCETT ROSS, completed in 1969. Karl Fulves reprinted the 11-page typescript of the McGuire letter as MCGUIRE ON MALINI in 1980.) The original PHANTOM manuscript describes Scott's technique for dealing a Strike Second. This was the first time the approach had circulated, though as we'll see. the idea was already known to both gamblers and magicians. Incidentally, what McGuire described as Scott's method is excellent. (Both Vernon and Miller thought so too. In a letter from Miller to Bill Woodfield dated August 13, 1949, Charlie called the method of dealing “very good” and described the exact handling with illustrations for Woodfield.) Scott's method for the bottom deal was also described, along with his “favorite” top card peek — now well-known as the Heel Peek, though it is actually a glimpse. The manuscript also explained Scott's way of making the punch, which used a single number 10 needle driven though a tiny silver or gold cup — a departure from what was available in those days from gambling supply houses. However, as explained by Charlie Miller in his August 13, 1949 letter to Bill Woodfield, the description given by McGuire to Horowitz wasn't entirely accurate: “As far as ‘punch’ is concerned, Sentt contends that needles are best — just drive three needles through the silver bases.” Then came the explanation of Scott's tour de force, his Blindfold Deal, where “genuinely blindfolded” with band around his eyes, and a pillow slip over his head and tied at the neck, Scott dealt a perfect No Trump Bridge hand. Scott also dealt strong Poker hands. (In- cidentally, as recorded in the MEMOIRS OF ROBERT-HOUDIN, first published in French in 1858, the invention of the Blindfold Deal mayThe Secret of the Palmettos Page 5 belong to the French magician Comus, who died in 1807. Comus was certainly performing the trick of playing and winning a game of Piquet while blindfolded by 1766.) McGuire's original PHANTOM manuscript was retyped for others including Cardini, Leipzig, and Downs. Eventually Horowitz passed it on to Dai Vernon. Inevitably, it circulated further through the underground, and was sold at high prices in that famous era of the pirated “private manuscript.” (My original typescript has “Price $100.00" on the first page of text.) That high price added to the mystique of Scott and McGuire's reputation. By 1934, the typescript versions of the manuscript circulating included a copy of a letter written by McGuire in response to a question by Vernon, describing Scott's “original formula” for the Slick Ace. (The Slick Ace formula was also broadcast before it found its way into the manuscript McGuire kept retyping and selling. McGuire had sent Downs an earlier formula by December of 1931. In Downs’ letter to McGuire of December 28, 1933, he wrote, “Many thanks for the Slick Ace formula. I'll keep that under my hat!") The preparation later came to be called Roughing Fluid by magicians, but was called Sandine by the gambling supply houses of the time. Word spread quickly, helped by magazine publicity. The August 1930 The Sphinx carried a photo of the participants at that famous evening (the mysterious Scott appearing blindfolded) and Holden commented in his column: “Eddie McGuire and Walter Scott of Providence jumped down here for another short visit and as usual it was a busy time.” In the September issue Holden reported: Louis [sic] Zingone, Al Altman and the writer drove up to Providence to spend a few hours with Walter Scott and Eddie Maguire [sic], and no need for me to introduce two of the finest and cleverest men in magic. Walter Scott is absolutely the greatest of all card workers, and Eddie Maguire his pupil and pal. Well. our visit of a few hours was to see some more wonders of Walter Scott and we also got a few pointers on the presentation of real magic. A drive of 400 miles to be in the company of Scott and Maguire was well worth the trip ... . Other articles appeared promoting the Phantom. In the March 1932 issue of Seven Circles magazine, published by the Interna- tional Magic Circle, Walter Domzalski, one of the founders of the I.M.C., reported in his “Around the Ice-Box” column that McGuire and his friends were packing for the upcoming S.A.M. and LM.C. conventions. Domzalski announced, “Eddie is bringing Scott. And there's a treat in store for all of us.” A letter from Downs to McGuire dated December 13, 1931 confirms the intended visit of McGuire and Scott, where Downs, after thanking McGuire for sending “dope” ‘on the Slick Ace adds, “Hope you and Scott won't fail to pay a visit next spring.” In a letter a few weeks later, dated January 1, 1932, Downs added, “Hope you and Scott can make the trip out this way this summer, so we can see you and repay you for the nice thingsPage 6 Historical Prelude you've done for us!” My file of Seven Circles is missing the May 1932 “Convention Number,” and the June and July issues. so I haven't been able to discover if this trip actually happened. It's possible they attended the I.M.C. convention, as McGuire subsequently con- tributed an article to the October 1932 issue of Seven Circles, as you'll soon read. In the sole issue of his Broadway Magic News, published in July of 1932 while Al Baker was in partnership in the Broadway Magic Shop with Martin Sunshine, Baker reported on the front page: When it comes to work at the card table, there 1s only one man I have ever met who rates 100% on seconds. bottoms and gambler's sleights and he is Walter Scott, called “Scottie” by his more intimate friends. He is without a doubt the master of them all. Walter can deal seconds, tell you he's doing it and yet no matter how closely you watch, you cannot detect him. A few of the boys who have been lucky enough to see him work have surely had a magical treat. Eddie McGuire is Scottie’s side-partner and surely knows as much about table work as any magician in the game. yet ask him how Walter does his work and he “doesn’t know a thing.” These boys are always welcome at the Broadway Magic Shop. McGuire carried on his publicity campaign for both Scott and himself in the October 1932 issue of Seven Circles, with an article called “A Talk to Card Enthusiasts”. It was basically a promotional piece for Scott. However, when discussing Scott's work, McGuire denigrated “the so-called card table men who hang around magic shops” — something he was to repeat forcefully in his last Linking Ring article — an odd thing to criticize, because we know both McGuire and Scott certainly did that! McGuire also told the readers: I have seen Scott in some terrific card battles with other most clever card men, and he always came out the winner. Scott has developed what is without a doubt the greatest card table system ever developed. Cardini, whe has a knowledge of the system, states that it Is five hundred years ahead of the Erdnase system. When the original manuscript circulated. McGuire was already complaining: “Manuel and others, having heard of the Blindfold deal as done at Al Baker's are vainly trying to imitate and duplicate the feat. But they fail because the methods they are using are wrong. They will never be able to duplicate the feat with any amount of success with the methods they are now using.” McGuire was right, but not for quite the reason he implied. Within a few years, E.J. Oienk of Utica, New York, was also doing a gambling demonstration blindfolded, with a large mirror above the table on which he worked, so those further back in the audience could see what was happening. (There's a photo of Otenk, identified only as “Mr. X” in the Jinx for July, 1936.) Olenk, who also workedThe Secret of the Palmettos Page 7 under the billing of “The Phantom Dealer” did the Punch Deal much the same as Scott, but exposed it. The manuscript continued to circulate among a rarefied group, knocked off on the typewriters of copyists in those pre-photocopy days. The methods surfaced in books like Hugard and Braue's EXPERT CARD TECHNIQUE (1940) and Marlo’s MARLO IN SPADES (1947) without mention of Scott. By the end of the decade, Mickey MacDougall was making a name for himself (well before John Scarne) as “The Card Detective” in glossy national magazines and popular books. He used the Punch Deal, but didn't expose the way he used it, not even in his 1944 book CARD MASTERY. Though MacDougall didn't perform blindfolded, what he did was essentially the same as McGuire had described as Scott's method of dealing winning hands. The Phantom's Manuscript Resurfaces In the early 1950s, Arthur T. Johnston, a New York public relations man, anonymously issued a quintet of reprints of high- priced underground manuscripts from the 1930s. His mimeographed reproductions included those on the work of the legendary Moe, Annemann. Al Baker, Dai Vernon, and Walter Scott. Manuscripts that sold then for between $5.00 and $100.00 now sold for $2.00. McGuire's manuscript on Scott's methods, was reprinted in 1951. (Johnston's reprint reproduced McGuire's 1932 Seven Circles article without mentioning the source. It has since reap- peared in all the reprints of THE PHANTOM including the Linking Ring version, without source credit, as if it was part of McGuire's original manuscript. It wasn’t. It first popped up in the version circulated in 1934.) McGuire was apparently none-too-happy when he discovered what Johnston had done, but eventually “collaborated” with him in republishing a marginally rewritten version of the manuscript. This appeared as a three-part series in Linking Ring magazine for November and December 1953, and January 1954. That final article included new material McGuire had written just for the issue. An ego trip, McGuire’s last word on Scott contained several reckless statements about the abilities of other cardmen, and where they'd gotten their material. The January 1954 issue of Linking Ring also contained an article by U.F. Grant partially about Scott and McGuire. Grant enthused: “I knew Scott real well, he visited my home many times and I SAW HIM PERFORM REAL MIRACLES, the Greatest Miracle Worker With Cards I Have Ever Seen .., I could go on for pages telling of the many miracles he performed for me.” In the late 1960s, a collector gave a bad photocopy of what may have been the original manuscript to John Luckman of Gambler's Book Club of Las Vegas. Unaware that the material had already beenPage & Historical Prelude reprinted by Johnston and in Linking Ring. or even that Walter Scott was then still alive, GBC published a “first edition” in 1969, which lacked many details. This was followed by a second edition in 1976, which included the material that had only previously appeared in Linking Ring. Without doubt, these low-priced GBC editions renewed interest in Scott's work and furthered his legend for the present generations. A Problem Posed In that famous manuscript McGuire explains Scott’s method for the second and his work with the punch, combining them to explain Scott's exhibition Blindfold Deal. To this day, even well-informed card workers, when mentioning Scott's methods, make the assump- tion that Scott only worked with the punch, putting the work in while he was handling the cards. But, there’s a very telling passage in his final Linking Ring article about Scott. McGuire wrote: “Mr. Scott read the manuscript and approved of same, because the methods explained in the manuscript had been discarded or were to be discarded. by him for better or more approved methods.” In fact, this may have been “insurance,” in case word of what had really occurred leaked. In reality, Scott didn't just use the methods described in the manuscript to dumbfound that room of top experts. Go back and reread the portion of Max Holden's article I've reprinted. Then, before you read the next chapter, ask yourself this: Isn't there a discrepancy? How can punch work — work that relies on feel — tell you an Ace is in the fourth position from the top and bottom of a shuffled deck? It can’t. Then, ask yourself how can punch work allow you to know how many of a particular value are in a cutoff portion of the deck? It can't. You may want to think about it a bit before proceeding to the next chapter.CHAPTER Ree wa fi IFTTES NEW LIGHT ON A LEGEND rked at Kar! Fulves' publication of passages from Tex McGuire's derogatory letters about him in the October 1979 issue of Interlocutor, Dai Vernon gave a glimpse at the truth in his “The Vernon Touch” column in the June 1980 issue of Genii magazine: Briefly, Eddie McGutre wanted to do a cigarette act. He longed to meet Cardini and heard that he was keenly interested in gambling moves. He dug up Walter Scott who did a very well executed second deal. He arranged to have Al Baker invite Max Holden, Sam Horowitz. Cardini. and a couple of others to meet in his home. Eddie asked Al if there was a nearby drugstore, left, and returned with a couple of decks of cards. Unbeknown to all was the fact that he changed these two decks for two that were marked and punched. With these cards which to all intents were ordinary, Walter. aided by his very good second deal bewildered everyone. There are several inaccuracies in Vernon's comment. Indeed, the whole scenario went much further than what Vernon revealed. Keep in mind that for years, Vernon had resented Holden's report in The Sphinx, where Holden “passed the crown” for expert card handling from Vernon to Scott, after “crowning” Vernon as the master for several years in his column. What seemed to have happened that night was a very public humiliation for Vernon. What Really Happened That Night McGuire had talked himself into a corner before bringing Scott to New York, boasting about his ability. As he revealed in his Seven Circles article: “When I made statements about Scott's work around New York, ] was laughed at and ridiculed. So, I was forced to bring Scott to New York in order to prove my statements ... The sensation