#erdnase

The words we have of Season 2 script! :)

15th word of the script: white

15th word dialogue: if

6th word, 6th line, 6th page: a

20th word, 22nd page: road

27th word, 27th page: Mr

28th word, 28th page: Bentley

69th word of the script: Something

7th word of the 12th line of the 7th page of the 4th script: the

Sandwich

Here are some other variations of the diagonal palm shift. Right Hand Steal

The Jinx, Issue 40, 1938, p. 264 / Tom Bowyer Tom Bowyer was one of the first to put a variation of the DPS into print in The Jinx as ‘Indetectable’. Despite being listed as an improvement, the move itself remains rather crude, using an exaggerated diagonal jog via Erdnase to set the card into position for a right handed classic palm. The card is then stolen in a similar action to the side steal.  

Larry Jennings on Card & Coin Handling, 1977, p. 22 / Larry Jennings Larry Jennings published a variant steal in 1977 under LJ Angle Steal that involved using the DPS set up to steal the card into a right modified Tenkai palm or gambler’s palm. After the card is jogged and pulled back, the card is caught between the right thumb and right palm and maneuvered out of the pack. The card lies more forward than a tenkai palm with the outer right corner ending up around the palmer side of the fourth MCP joint. The position is similar to Marlo’s Angle Palm position (The Tabled Palm, 1957, p. 6) or Gene Maze’s Unit Grip (Packet Switches Part Four, 1977, p. 263) 

The Vernon Chronicles Vol 1, 1987, p. 65 / Arthur Finley A more refined right-handed steal from the DPS was described by Stephen Minch in the first Vernon Chronicles. After the card is diagonally jogged, the selection is moved leftward by the actions of the right thumb and left fourth finger under the cover of the right hand. The card is then stolen into right classic palm as the right hand continues its movement left to pull up the left sleeve. A clarification appeared in volume 3 of the Vernon Chronicles (1989, p. 15) and a right steal into gambler’s flat palm is also noted to be Vernon’s preference. Technical Variations 

The Card Magic of LePaul, 1949, p. 61 / Paul LePaul In The Card Magic of LePaul, a technique is described for a left handed steal. While not directly related, the technique has been championed by many as an alternative to the DPS. Briefly: the right fingers straddle the outer left corner of the protruding card, which is the significantly displaced clockwise into left hand palm as it is apparently pushed in the deck. There are however a few drawbacks to this technique: the unnatural placement and squaring actions of the right fingers, and the need for the right hand to change grips during the steal.  

Side Steal, 1957, p 45 / Ed Marlo Ed Marlo published a variation in lieu of the DPS in Side Steal coined ‘The Diagonal Steal’. Similar to LePaul technique, it uses the right second finger on the outer left corner of the card to achieve a similar clockwise rotation of the selection into left palm. The movement of the right fingers is less obvious and the right hand retains its grip using Marlo’s ‘Pinch’ technique.  

Complete Works of Derek Dingle, 1982, p. 105 & 172 / Derek Dingle In Complete Works, Richard Kaufman describes a technique of Derek Dingle’s to steal a peeked card into the left hand. While labelled as the “Peek Twist DPS”, it is more aptly described as a side steal. The move retains neither the diagonal jog nor the rotational action used for the steal. Instead, a peeked card is side-jogged via the classic side steal action and then the entire deck is rotated moving the protruding card into palm position. Also of note is a technique published in the same volume under “Technical Refinement of LJ’s Angle Palm Steal” that uses the left thumb to eliminate the action of the right forefinger. Note that this is similar to Vernon’s technique in Revelations (1984).

Zarrow: A Lifetime of Magic, 2008, p. 347 / Herb Zarrow Most of Zarrow’s work outside of his eponymous shuffle remains largely unknown. In David Ben’s gargantuan tome, his variation of the DPS is recorded. In summary, instead of raising the deck to the fingertips, the shift is performed with the deck held in mechanic’s grip. The fork of the left thumb or the interphalangeal joint is used to catch the right outer corner of the selection and bring it backwards to initiate the steal.   

MagicCon 2010, 2010, p. 8 / Derek Delgaudio Borrowing similar mechanics from Jacob Daley, Derek Delgaudio published an idea in his MagicCon lecture notes where the DPS can be performed from peek with a deck wrapped in an elastic band with no variation in technique.   Multiple Card Handling 

Jack McMillen, 2011, p. 252 / Paul Chosse Doing the DPS with multiple cards poses numerous issues, one of which being that the cards do not remain in alignment throughout the rotation into palm. Charlie Miller used to pose this as a challenge to young magicians. A solution of Paul Chosse’s was posted years ago on the Magic Café and subsequently published in Jack McMillen. Briefly: combining the actions of the Erdnase bottom palm, method one, with the DPS, after the cards and jogged and begin their rotation, when the cards are parallel with the deck, the right fourth finger slides along the right long edge of the deck and pushes the cards backwards, lessening the degree of rotation required for the palm.  

Card Men, 2014, p. 60 / Ricky Smith Taking a different approach, Ricky Smith publishes his variation in Dan and Dave’s Card Men. Without disclosing his technique, the cards are simply displaced during the selection process and stolen together as a block.   Covers 

The Lost Tapes Vol. 2, 1984 / Earl Nelson In Earl Nelson’s technical study of the DPS, he includes an all-around-square-up after the steal as a covering action for the DPS.

Jack McMillen, 2011, p. 252 / Paul Chosse One of Paul Chosse’s covers for the DPS was published in Jack McMillen in 2011. The technique is described in an earlier post, but briefly: after the steal, the deck is given an all-around-square-up. As the former inner end of the pack is rotated to the ceiling, the right thumb riffles the ends to bring attention to the deck and away from the dirty hand.   

Kicking off a series on the Diagonal Palm Shift

On page 137 of The Expert at the Card Table, Erdnase describes a novel technique to steal a card inserted into the deck into the left palm under the guise of handing the deck out for shuffling. He called this the Diagonal Palm Shift (DPS). Since its publication in 1902, it has been championed by many of the giants in card magic and universally acknowledged as one of the finest card techniques ever devised. In the subsequent century, numerous attempts to improve and break down the move have been published and it remains one of the most widely varied techniques in the literature.

The DPS is an amalgamation of two manoeuvres. The first is the use of the diagonal jog to mark the location of an inserted card, and the second is a steal from the center of the deck into palm. As pointed out by Darwin Ortiz in The Annotated Erdnase (1991, p. 162), Erdnase’s disdain for published techniques at the time, notably Edwin Sachs’ ‘The Diagonal Pass’ from Sleight of Hand (1885, p. 96-98) was a likely inspiration for the DPS. In the Expert, Erdnase writes, in reference to the Sachs technique, that “the process is not satisfactory” and his goal was “to improve, or rather to combine the first part of this maneurvre with a process for palming the inserted cards.” (p. 137).

While the concept of stealing a card from the deck into palm is often attributed to T. Nelson Downs and Nate Leipzig (Art of Magic, 1909, p. 144 & p. 221, respectively), its roots can be traced back to the 19th century. August Roterberg described the ‘Excelsior Change’ in New Era Card Tricks (p. 22) in 1897, whom he credits to Adrian Plate. In Roterberg’s description, the bottom card of a double is stolen into the right palm as the card(s) are transferred from the right to left hand. Erdnase was no doubt aware of this source as he describes an almost identical technique in the legerdemain section of the Expert (‘The Palm Change’, p. 149).

The first description of a steal of a single card from the center of the deck is found in Mahatma Magazine Vol 5 No 2 (1901, p. 495) attributed to Walter Peterkin under the stage name Hal Merton, where the left thumb is used to push the top card of the bottom packet rightward as the top packet is replaced. This allows for the card to be stolen into right palm via the classic side steal. A variant of this technique, using the left fingers to push out a replaced card is later described in Mahatma Magazine Vol 8 No 2 (1904, p. 17). 

There are a few factors that make the DPS one of the most technically elegant solutions to the center steal. One, done correctly, there should be no extraneous movements of the fingers – the technique can be done with an absolutely stillness of the left hand. The natural movement of handing the deck out facilitates the diagonal jog and subsequent palm. Notably, the right thumb maintains its grip on the deck as the card is pivoted around it. Compare this to subsequent techniques in the literature for a center steal into left palm such as Paul LePaul’s Diagonal left hand palm (Card Magic of LePaul, 1949, p. 61) and Ed Marlo’s Diagonal steal (Side Steal, 1957, p 45), and the superiority of the DPS becomes evident. Note that in the same book, Marlo simulates the grip by pinching the deck at the front end between the right first and second fingers as the selection is stolen beneath the thumb (Side Steal, 1957, p. 16).

First impressions on Steve Forte’s Gambling Sleight of Hand (2020).

Steve Forte’s gargantuan tome on gambling sleight of hand was released earlier this year. My copies arrived in late February and like most magicians, the first chapter I turned to after my initial tachycardia settled was the one on Erdnase. It’s a well-researched chapter consisting of 135 pages arguing the point that Erdnase was neither a card cheat nor an expert at the card table, and the artifice section is filled with sub-par gambling moves. I have no real opinion as both sides have been discussed extensively by far more knowledgeable people than I, but it is a fascinating read nevertheless.

“Ortiz is one of the very few to bravely point out “the fear of sacrilege” that would come with any 'objective evaluation’ of The Expert due to magic’s adoration for Vernon.” (p. 726). The original Ortiz commented appeared in The Annotated Erdnase on p. 17 (1991).  The irony behind Forte’s statement, of course, being that with the release of this book and magic’s adoration for Forte, his words will now replace Vernon’s as the definitive last word. 

Forte holds an interesting place among this generation of magicians. While little footage exist of Vernon in his prime, and even fewer of the giants before him, it is difficult to imagine someone in any generation whose technical skill can rival Forte’s. The fortunate consequence of this is the increasingly rare assurance that everything described in the book is doable and can be taken to levels previously unimagined. (If you’re like me, you’ve had the disappointing experience seeing an author demonstrate a move you’ve been struggling with and realizing it is indeed, not nearly as deceptive as claimed.) 

“Bill Malone passed along an interesting story about Marlo’s take on The Expert. After asking Marlo about characterizing The Expert as the ‘cardman’s bible’, Marlo responded, ‘It’s not the bible; it’s just a good book’.” (p. 725) 

Other observations:

- There is very little crediting in the entirety of the two volumes – a somewhat unsatisfying explanation is given on p. 47. Understandably, it is exceedingly difficult to trace the origins of most gambling material, but even the ideas/concepts that originated from the magic literature is often not credited.  

- This is not a book for beginners. Familiarity with the general technical landscape is assumed. For example, in the chapter on the Zarrow shuffle, very little is offered in basic explanations, rather new concepts, technical variations, and comments on established handlings are presented instead.

- Forte’s technical descriptions are often quite terse. While the explanations are completely adequate, I often found myself hoping for a little more guidance while working through some of the sleights. As an example, in the section on stunts, under Packet spins, snaps, and twirls, the following description is given - “To spin the packet, spin it 180 degrees” (p. 1000), or after extolling the virtues of MD’s Push-Through handling, the technical explanation simply includes: “use the right-third finger to bump the outer end of the right half, striking and sending it through the left half.” (p. 132).

- In my opinion, the most valuable material in the tomes are the ‘technical observations’ preceding each section, which include finesses, ideas, and ways to eliminate tells, often describing in a few pages what Ben Earl does in 6 volumes of The Shift. For example, in the observations on the push-through, several previously undescribed concepts like the ‘pre-riffle split’ (p. 119), ‘riffle separation’ (p. 121), and ‘square-up before the square up’ (p 123) are offered, the value of which is immediately evident.  Several novel variations of the push-through are then explained, interesting to note that while the majority of magicians will do a “speed through” (p. 127), many other possibilities exist.

- Weaknesses of many advanced ‘holy grail’ techniques in the magic literature are identified and reviewed, and in many cases, better solutions offered. For example, Forte questions the superiority of the Stevens control, (p. 109), Vernon’s touch on the Mysterious Kid’s push-through (p .138), the Stevens cull (p. 272), Walter Scott’s second deal (p. 356), the center deal (p. 471), and the entirety of Erdnase (p. 607).

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