#robert-houdin

Post No Bill (1896) Georges Méliès

Post No Bill (original french title: Défense d'afficher), is a film made by Georges Méliès in 1896.

 It is film number 15 in the Star Film Catalog and the oldest of Méliès' surviving films after Une partie de cartes (No. 1) and Une Nuit Terrible (No. 26). It was believed lost until a copy was discovered in 2004 in the archives of the French Communist Party.

In this very early example of comedic film, authority is already mocked, here represented by a clumsy soldier. Later, bumbling gendarmes and policemen would become an essential ingredient of the comedy genre.

The phrase "A magician is an actor playing the part of a magician" is a quote by the famous French illusionist Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin.

Le Tour du Japon au Théâtre Robert-Houdin (The magic trick at Robert-Houdin’s Theater) advertising poster - France - 1877

This post is an attempt to address the question of the relevance of the pass to modern card conjuring. 

The pass is basically a move that allows the performer to secretly cut the deck. I will begin by providing a historical overview of the different approaches to the move.

1. A little bit of history

1.1 The backbone of card conjuring?

Edmé-Gilles Guyot (1706-1786) was a scientist and a magician who helped to popularise the magic lantern. This was basically the Gothic equivalent to the cinema: a tool used in phantasmagoria during the XVIII to “summon the spirits” by projecting images onto smoke. What is not so well known is that Guyot was also one of the first magicians that regarded the pass as the essential move that should be mastered by any card conjurer.

Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin (1805–71) followed Guyot’s take on the move in Les secrets de la prestidigitation et de la magie : comment on devient sorcier (1868), where he claims that:

The “pass” is the most important of the various artifices employed in the performance of card tricks. The student should, therefore, seek to acquire this sleight before proceeding to any other.

This emphasis on the importance of the pass heavily dominated the French magic literature during this period. The pass was method employed by the card conjurer in “nine-tenths of his card tricks”. 

This conception of the pass was subsequently incorporated into the English magic literature by Professor Hoffman as pointed out by Hugard and Braue in The Royal Road to Card Magic (1949). It was in his seminal work Modern Magic (1876) that Professor Hoffman coined the phrase “the pass is the very backbone of card conjuring”. 

The consensus view in the magic literature of the XVIII and XIX centuries was that the pass is not only the best way to control a card,  but also the first move that should be mastered.

For instance, building on from Hoffman’s ideas, August Roterberg (1867-1928) claimed that: 

“The two principal sleights used in card tricks are the “Pass” and the “Force,” both of which may safely be called the sine qua non of card conjuring”  August Roterberg. New Era Card Tricks (1897)

 In the same fashion, C. Lang Neil writes in The Modern Conjurer and Drawing-Room Entertainer (1902):

The learner should bear in mind that this pass is the most important of all points to acquire to perfection, for it is the basis of, or used in, almost every card trick which requires any sleight of hand. It is by means of this pass that any card placed by a member of the audience into the pack is secured by the performer, or a sight of it obtained; in fact, without proficiency in this pass (for no other pass is absolutely necessary) no one can conjure cleverly with cards.

1.2 A Copernican Revolution. Erdnase paves the way for a change of direction

But it is in the same year that Lang published The Modern Conjurer that the paradigm started to shift. One of the dissenters should be well known to most readers, as he wrote one of the most influential books on card magic: Artifice, Ruse and Subterfuge at the Card Table: A Treatise on the Science and Art of Manipulating Cards, most commonly known as The Expert at the Card Table. I am of course talking about S.W.E Erdnase. For this author:

We are aware that all conjurers advise the shift or pass, as the first accomplishment, and while we do not belittle the merits of the shift when perfectly performed, we insist that all or any of the various methods of executing it, are among the most difficult feats the student will be called upon to acquire, and imposing such a task at the outset has a most discouraging effect.

Erdnase developed some novel ways to shift the deck. However, he embraced the idea that the jog shuffle could be an effective method to control a card to the bottom or to the top of the deck. This is a major contribution, and a point of departure. Here is the relevant passage:

Now it may be a matter of opinion, but we think it would appear quite as natural if the performer were to shuffle the deck himself, immediately when the card is replaced in the middle, then palm off and hand the deck to the spectator to shuffle.

Erdnase’s “Blind Shuffle for Securing Selected Card” is an extremely efficient method to control a selected card to the bottom. It is also worth noting that Erdnase thought the bottom of the pack was the best place to control the selected card as it could be  palmed from there more safely before passing the deck to the spectator to shuffle.

1.3 Further deviations

From this point in time, we can find many authors that disagreed with the idea that the pass is the “backbone of card conjuring”. A case in point is David Devant. In Secrets of my Magic (1936), Devant abided for eliminating the pass as much as possible and using a false shuffle instead. He propounded the following:

Thus I have always taught amateurs to eliminate the “pass” in card tricks as much as possible. For instance, it is usual to receive back a chosen card on the lower half of the pack; then put the two halves together; then make the pass, and then “false shuffle” the cards. I suggest the pass in this instance is not necessary. I receive back the card on the lower half, bring the top half to it, and keeping the two separated by the little finger of the left hand, leave it thus for a few seconds, then separate again by commencing to “false shuffle.” To do this I naturally take the top half. This leaves the chosen card on the top and I continue to “false shuffle” by slipping the chosen card each time I transfer cards from the back to the front of the pack.

Similarly, Jean Hugard and Frederick Braue were of the opinion that the pass was not necessary at all in card magic. Whilst they initially gave some relevance to the pass in Expert Card Technique (1940), where they claimed that “it is still a requisite if many excellent feats are to be attempted”, their opinion changed radically in their following publication. What follows is a quote from the Royal Road to Card Magic (1949), which was published only nine years after Expert Card Technique: 

We have shown in the preceding pages that the pass is not absolutely essential to card conjuring and that any trick can be performed without using it. Although we have relegated the pass to the role of a subsidiary sleight, we do not wish you to think that it is unimportant.

Nowadays, the subsidiary sleight role of the pass has been accentuated. The consensus view seems to be that the pass is little more than an elegant method to control a card. In fact, magicians normally rely on other method to  to control a card to the top : from the double undercut and jog shuffles, to sophisticated controls that do not involve transposing the packs.

Ken Krenzel put forward the view that using the pass to control a card is like “killing a fly with a sledge hammer” (see The Card Classics of Ken Krenzel (1978) by Harry Lorayne). 

1.4 Voices in favour of the pass

On the other hand, it is necessary consider some rival views to the claim that that the pass is passé:

Nevertheless the Pass can be one of the most useful of all methods of controlling a card or cards, and the following observations by Dai Vernon will help the reader to master the handling and avoid the pitfalls which deter so many.

Dai Vernon

Although much effort has been expended in the last fifty years to find substitutes for the pass, there is scarcely any technique that attains the same goals as directly and as elegantly.

Roberto Giobbi in Card College Vol 2 (1996)

2. The pass before the 20th century. An essential move?

We have seen the evolution of the understanding of the pass as essential to card magic. From the early notion of the pass as the backbone of card conjuring, to the more recent idea that it is unnecesary in card conjuring and that, as a card control, is like killing a fly with a sledgehammer.

Why was the pass so popular during the XVIII and XIX centuries? For the sake of discussion, it could be argued that the reason was that magicians in those days:

a) used bridge size decks, which facilitated the mechanics of the move;

b) did not have other methods available at the time to control a card;

c) performed mainly in a parlour environment, which facilitated the misdirection for the move;

d) other reasons;

2.1 Usage of the pass in Robert-Houdin’s The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic (1868)

As it was noted above, Robert-Houdin considered that the pass was one of the most essential moves and the first one that should be learned before considering any other. Let us look at the the card tricks described in his book, The Secrets of Conjuring and Magic (1868), to check the truth of this assertion:

I. Clairvoyance By Touch

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but the pass is immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? No

II. Mene, Tekel, Upharsin

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

III. The Cards Passing Up The Sleeve

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but the pass is immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? No

IV. The Cards Made Larger And Smaller

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

V. The Ladies Looking Glass

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but the pass is immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? Yes, the effect fully relies on the pass as a secret move.

VI. The Sympathetic Cards

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

VII. The Electrified Cards

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

VIII. The Power Of The Will

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but the pass is immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? No

IX. The Mesmerised Cards

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? No

X. The Metamorphoses

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes, but the pass is immediately followed by a shuffle. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? Yes, it is used to bring a card to the middle of the deck in order to force it.

XI. A Magical Transformation

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

XII. The Card Thought Of

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

XIII. Thought Anticipated

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

XIV. The Thoughts Of Two Persons Anticipated

Is the pass used as a card control? No Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? Yes, the effect fully relies on the pass as a secret move.

XV.  The Four Aces

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? Yes, the effect fully relies on the pass as a secret move.

XVI. The Card In The Pocket-Book

Is the pass used as a card control? Yes. Strangely, Houdin doesn’t recommend to follow the pass with a shuffle this time. Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? No

XVII. Now!

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

XVIII. The Flying Aces And Kings

Is the pass used as a card control? No Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? Yes, the effect fully relies on the pass as a secret move.

XIX.  The Protean Pack Of Cards

Is the pass used as a card control? N/A Is the pass used to secretly cut the deck? N/A

2.2 Conclusion 

Of the total 19 card tricks described in the book, the pass is used in 10 of them. 7 of the effects use it as a card control. Only 5 of the 19 rely on the pass for purposes other than as a card control. 

These results provide confirmatory evidence that the pass was neither essential nor necessarily the first move that the neophyte should master. The ideas pass, according to August Roterberg, is actually not within easy reach for the newbie:

An ideal pass, which must be absolutely noiseless, quick as a flash, and practically invisible, will however, take a year or more to acquire, and even then constant practice must be devoted to it. August Roterberg (1867-1928) - New Era Card Tricks (1897)

3. The pass as a card control

With regard to the pass used as a card control, on logical grounds I make the following observations:

The pass is basically a method to secretly cut the deck and, as such, it can be used as a card control. It allows for a selected card replaced in the middle of the deck can be brought to the top. But there are other methods to control a card that do not involve a secret cut of the deck.

I contend that we need to take a middle-ground position. Whilst it is true that many different methods have been developed to control a card, it seems fair to suggest that the pass is an underrated sleight. The underlying issue is that the so-called substitutes for the pass as a card control do not generally achieve the same results or clarity of effect than the pass. I am not alone in this view. See Roy Walton’s in The Complete Walton Vol 1 (1981).

One of the benefits of the pass is that, from the audience’s point of view, nothing takes place after the card is buried in the middle of the deck: there is no need for further cutting or shuffling. In certain passes, “there is not the least change in the attitude of the right fingers during or immediately after the shift”. This could represent a considerable advantage over other methods that involve open moves that need to be justified. As a rebuttal to this point, it could be argued that by controlling the card during the shuffle the outer and the inner reality of the move become one, which provides perfect cover for the secret move, i.e. there is nothing to see, he is just shuffling the deck. 

My view is that if you follow the pass with a false shuffle, you are distorting the clarity provided by the pass. What I mean is that you should either use the pass to create the illusion that nothing has been done after the card has been replaced to the middle of the deck or you control the card during the shuffle (e.g. using the jog shuffle) Respectfully, this subtlety seems to have been missed by Robert-Houdin. As we have seen above, he indicates that every pass should be followed with a false shuffle to make the audience believe that the card is really lost. This is a fair point, but why not simply control the card to the top while you shuffle and eliminate one move.

4. Other applications of the pass

Having established the particularities of the pass as a card control, we will now consider the other uses of the move.

The potential of the move is unlocked when the secret cut is utilised to achieve something else than merely controlling a card to the top of the pack. 

Le tour du Japon au Théâtre Robert-Houdin (The Tour of Japan at the Robert-Houdin Theatre) - Antoine Barbizet (1821-1866) illustration poster - France - 1877