Extreme Magic Vignette: Card Trick Stunt

Terry stands in the middle of the studio and addresses the camera, and the audience behind it, as an introduction to the next insert in the show.

"The producers of this show said I ought to do a card trick (not usually my thing) and they also said I should do a big set-piece stunt. I had visions of driving a Ferrari along a coastal road in Italy and then they told me the budget; I had to trim my ambitions a bit."

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"It was a lovely day last month and we did our thing in the vicinity of the railway bridge over the road leading to the back parking lot of the Five Maples Mall, because it was a Sunday, the local authority allowed us to close the access road and put up a marquee-style tent under the bridge. We also managed to secure the services of Brian Winders and Diane Murray, presenters of the popular local show, 'People Talking'."

The scene shows a crowd of people standing near a raised platform on which stand the recognisable figures of Brian and Diane. Also on the platform is a table, holding various items and a cameraman. As the camera taking in the scene pans across the crowd, it becomes obvious that most of the crowd is young women wearing swimming suits of various descriptions. In the background are a couple of tables attended by people wearing black t-shirts and shorts. Nearby is the railway bridge with the open flaps of the marquee which is jammed under it.

A phone on the table rings and Brian answers it. As he picks the phone up, an inset appears in the upper left of the image showing Terry with a mobile phone in hand and perched on the front wheel arch of a sports car.

"Hello?" says Brian.

"Good afternoon, Brian. Would you mind putting this on speaker, so that everyone can hear?"

Brian presses a button on the phone and announces to Terry that he is now on speaker.

"Good, then we can begin. Please tell my bevy of volunteers, to go to the tables and pick up an envelope and a tabard each. You will find a loud-hailer on the table next to you, if you feel you need it."

Using the loud-hailer, Brian passes on the message and the swimwear-clad women start towards the tables to pick up the items.

"Once each volunteer has got their envelope and tabard they are to enter the tent, where they may swap items with other volunteers." He pauses while Brian relays the additional instructions to the crowd. "I trust you followed my instructions and brought along a sealed pack of cards that you have bought yourselves." Brian confirms to Terry that they have a deck of cards that they bought yesterday, while Diane pulls the cellophane wrapped pack from her handbag.

"You now need to decide who will be handling the cards and who will be doing the rest." The presenters look at each other and by mutual silent consent, Diane becomes the card handler, while Brian get the other duties.

He tells Terry that their roles have been assigned and asks if Terry wants to know who is doing what. Terry replies that at this point he does not need to know; it will become obvious when he gets there.

"Will the card person please unseal the deck and remove them from the box. The other person will see a paper bag on the table. At the bottom of the bag you will find a notepad and a marker pen."

Brian moves round the table to the stiff paper bag stood on the table and finds it contains the pad and pen. "Ok," he says.

"Brian, as you seem to be the 'other' person, I would like you to take the pen and take the top off, then keeping the pad in the bottom of the bag, I want you to open it up and write the name of a playing card on the pad and then close the pad and pen again. The reason for this rather awkward procedure is to assure the sceptics watching that I do not have a confederate watching who is able to read the movement of the back of the marker and passing the name of the card you are writing on to me. The reason for writing on an inner page of the pad is so that the writing does not show through."

"Diane, while he's doing that, would you shuffle the deck, take a card at random and without looking at it put it in the envelope you will find on the table. Once the card is in the envelope, please put it in a safe place, where no-one can get at it without you knowing."

While these instructions are being given the cameraman with Terry has done a circuit of the car, and looked in the windows, showing that there is nobody in the car. We see this in the inset.

"Are all my volunteers in the tent?" asks Terry.

Brian looks over and confirms that they are. "In that case, would you, please, tell them to stop swapping envelopes and tabards and to tuck the envelope they have inside their costumes and put on the tabards." Brian once more relays the message and as the flaps of the tent are closed by Terry's black-clad helpers, we glimpse a flurry of activity in the tent as the girls put on the plain white tabards.

"All seems to be going to plan, so I'll see you in a minute or so." Terry hangs up and moves to driver's door. As he gets in, he says, "I'd like to thank Carlton Motors for the loan of this wonderful Porsche." He slams the door and starts the engine, then waves to the camera, before setting off down the access road, accelerating all the way. As the Porsche disappears from this shot in the inset, the shot is replaced by a camera that can see the speeding car approaching toward the bridge and the tent under it.

There are several screams as the car enters the marquee and is seen to emerge from the flaps visible in the main shot, still the same pristine white it was when it entered the tent moments before.

The car brakes to a juddering halt by the platform. Out steps Terry, looking exhilarated, and he quickly runs round the car and opens the passenger door, an offers a hand to help out a shocked-looking brunette, who was not in the car when it started its high-speed trip down the access road.

Terry guided the shaken young woman onto the dais and asked Brian to tell the rest of the volunteers that they could come out from the tent, through which he had just driven the sports car.

"This young woman is...?" began Terry.

She supplied, "Lara."

"And you were one of the volunteers in the tent, right?"

"Yes I was," she confirmed.

"Would you, please, stand between Brian and Diane and get out your envelope. Diane would you get the envelope containing the card you selected from wherever you put it for safe keeping and Brian, please, get the notepad out of the bag for the first time." Each person moved to comply. "Ladies, open your envelopes, but do not take the contents out just yet. Brian find the page you wrote on, but do not show it for now." Each of them fiddled with the item in their hands. "Diane and Lara, when I say, pull the contents from the envelope, and at that point show what you wrote in the pad, Brian. Go!"

The shot shows the two presenters and the still slightly dazed volunteer, showing the item they had been asked to show. Diane shows the card she put in the envelope was the four of hearts; this matches what Brian wrote on the pad and the card that was in Lara's envelope.

The crowd of volunteers has gathered in front of the platform and seeing this miracle of coincidence, applaud.

"Given that you two have been working together for so long, it's not much of a surprise that you agreed on the card chosen and you can't possibly be surprised that the volunteer I picked up while I was passing through the tent was carrying the same card that you chose. What I'm about to may stretch your credulity a bit further. Brian please hand me one of those tins of spray paint and take the other for yourself."

Brian looks at the aerosol cans and determines that there is nothing to tell if they are different, the both have no cap and have been sprayed silver. He picks one and hands the other one to Terry.

Terry shakes the can and the points the nozzle at Lara's white tabard. Lara's face takes on a look on concern. "Don't worry," says Terry, "the paint is water-based, so if I get it on anything I shouldn't, it will wash off quite easily. Besides all the tabards have been treated with a hydrophobic material so the paint will not stain."

Before anyone has fully taken in what Terry just said, he sprays the can towards Lara. As he steps back so that the camera and the crowd can see, there is the figure four and a heart shape in red on Lara's tabard. The card marks are as if they had been stencilled there rather that written with a spray can and there is no stencil in Terry's hand.

"When I say that the tabards were treated with a hydrophobic material, I did not mention that I left gaps in the treatment, so that when sprayed with paint, they revealed the sections I left untreated. Brian would you please try your spray can on the corner of the notepad."

Brian retrieved the pad from the table and, holding it at arm's length, directed the can in his other hand at it. The corner of the pad was soon dripping black paint.

"Thank you, Brian. And I'm glad you handed me the right can for the colour of card you chose." Terry paused allowing the crowd of volunteers to applaud and Brian to bask in the glory of his helpfulness.

"Of course, the sceptics will say that I arranged with you what card you would pick and had that card put in every envelope and marked on every tabard. While the sceptic will be determined not to believe it, would you please confirm that, other than matters of time and venue and bring a pack of cards, there has been no pre-arrangement."

Diane spoke. "There has definitely been no collusion between us and Terry." Brian echoed the sentiment.

"Well, that deals the collusion issue, as best we can, but someone will still say I had the same card in each envelope and on each tabard. To confound them, Brian, please go and select three more volunteers and bring them up to the stage."

Terry had expected that Brian would step down from the platform and go amongst the volunteers to make his choice and was visibly surprised when Brian picked up the megaphone and asked all the girls with a birthday this month to raise their hands. Five hands were held aloft. Brian selected three of these and asked them to come up to the platform.

Terry arranged them at the end of the platform and asked them to get out their envelopes. Another helper brought a tray with seven aerosol cans on it. "Ok, folks, here's how we are going to proceed. Diane pick a card from your deck, while Brian picks a volunteer and a can from the tray. The chosen volunteer will open their envelope and pull out and show their card at the same time as Diane reveals her card, then Brian will spray the tabard. If everything has gone right, the two cards will match each other and the card written on the tabard, hopefully in the right colour."

The procedure is repeated until the selected cards have been matched up with the cards and tabards of all three selected volunteers.

While this is going on, a worried-looking black-clad helper comes and speaks to Terry.

"Usually we would call it a done at that, but we seem to have lost a volunteer and that will never do. My helper here, counted fifty-three volunteers into the marquee and only fifty-one back out. Number fifty-two is Lara here, so where has the last volunteer disappeared to? Does anyone know who is missing?"

There was a pause while those who had come with friends located them. A hand went up in the crowd and the bearer of that hand pushed her way to the front. "My friend, Debbie, seems to not be here," she called. Terry met the informant in the gap between the audience and the platform where the car was parked. "She is the kind of person that might be called a prankster and might have gone out the other end of the tent, just to muck people up."

"We've checked the camera that was covering the other end and no-one left through that end." He took a breath, as if to say something more, when there came a thumping from in the boot of the car.

It did not take long to open the boot and help the young woman they found there out. She was wearing a tabard and, more surprisingly, a full body jester suit.

Terry invited Diane and Brian to come down from the platform and asked Brian to bring another spray-can from the tray. In the time it took the presenter to arrive, Debbie's friend had confirmed that it was Debbie who had just climb out of the boot of the Porsche, which had barely enough room to contain her, much less give her space to change into the Jester outfit. They also found, Debbie's card matched her outfit.

Terry asked Brian to spray Debbie's tabard, which revealed a red and black image of a jester.

"Well, that proves that Debbie is really a joker. There is one mystery left; where is Debbie's swim-suit? Maybe Diane can help out," he said making a significant glance at Diane's handbag.

Diane opened her handbag and pulled out a swim-suit that Debbie's expression told all was hers.