Finger on the Card

Finger on the Card
Author	Gary Ouellet
Publisher	Camirand Academy of Magic
Publication Date	1979
Language	English
Pages	29

Finger on the Card, released as a one-trick booklet in 1979, was the first installment in the Camirand Academy's Masters of Magic series. Created and written by Gary Ouellet, the routine was originally designed as a way to package and sell the five necessary sleights - a force, a double lift, a false cut, a control, and a glimpse - but Ouellet noted in the 1986 second edition, “Although I think the effect is, in its way, a little gem, I was certain that it would be regarded as a handy way of selling instructions for five sleights. In this I was wrong, because letters and comments received (those unsolicited testimonials that sometimes end up in advertisements) concerned the effect, not the method.”

Collectors will also note that the first printing was written by someone named Kagliostro, which in fact was a pseudonym for Gary Ouellet.

For the 1986 second edition (actually the third printing), Ouellet rewrote the book from scratch, and the original photos were interspersed more effectively with the text. In addition, a bonus section was included, featuring alternate sleights Ouellet came to favor in place of their earlier counterparts (this was also the first time Gilles Couture's excellent Swivel Cut Control appeared in print).

Table of Contents (Second Edition)

• Publisher's Introduction to the Second Edition
• Introduction
• Finger on the Card
• Effect
• Performance
  • Drop Control
  • The Double Cut
  • The Drop Cut
  • The Finger Glimpse
  • The Sliding Double Lift
  • The Rotating Slip Force
• Finger on the Card Revisited
  • Swivel Cut Control
  • Butt Cutt
• The Last Word

Reviewed in Genii 1979 July

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