This first chapter includes five “sandwich” card tricks from my personal performing repertoire, along with three of my all-time favourite sandwich recipes. I thought including some sandwich recipes would make my magic book a little different from the hundreds already in print. Plus, performing card tricks makes me hungry!
For readers new to card magic, a sandwich trick is a specific type of location effect in which a selected card is captured between two other playing cards. Since the early twentieth century, magicians have been performing them with great enthusiasm. One of the earliest examples is the “Obedient Card” by Louis F. Christianer, published in The Magic Wand (Christianer, 1917, p. 78): a card is selected and lost in the pack. The two red Aces are thrown into the air and return to the deck like a boomerang, trapping the selection. Even though this trick is quite clearly related to the modern-day sandwich effect, it is a demonstration of dexterity, not a moment of magic.
In his write-up, Christianer had the following to say about the trick:
“This trick is a variation of one I have performed for some time and which has been made familiar by Malini, Merlin, and others”
This comment suggests that the effect was in circulation for some time before Christianer devised his particular handling, making the plot around one hundred years old; I certainly didn't realise that magicians had been making card sandwiches for so long before writing this book.
More variations quickly followed. Jack Merlin published “The Royal Finders” in 1927 (presumably, this is one of the tricks Christianer was making reference to in the above quote). William Larsen and T. Page Wright also published an interesting trick called “A Reverse Location” in a manuscript titled The L.W. Card Mysteries (Larsen, 1928, p. 10). In it, the two cards on either side of a selection reverse themselves by surprise. (I've taken a similar approach with my tricks “Backlash Butty” and “Better Backlash Butty”, but without using gaffed cards.) Jack McMillen and Judson Brown subsequently published another method for this trick called “A New Reverse Location” in Take a Card (McMillen, 1929, p. 8).
Next, the ingenious Scottish magician Tom Sellers invented and published “The Twin Aces” (Sellers, 1931, p.9), which is closer to what most magicians would recognise as a sandwich trick. Then, in 1933, Victor Farelli published his trick called “The Sandwich” in his wonderful book Farelli's Card Magic (Farelli, 1933, p. 89). Farelli's routine was based on another trick by Tom Sellers published in The Magic Wand. This trick by Farelli popularised both the plot and the name of the effect.
And now, thanks to me, there are five more sandwich tricks to add to the ever-expanding list! These sandwiches are relatively easy to prepare and should be within the reach of most magicians with intermediate card-handling skills. “Sherlockian Sarnie” and “Peruvian Sandwich” are almost self-working; even a complete beginner should be able to learn and perform them. However, “Tongue Sandwich”, “Backlash Butty”, and “Better Backlash Butty” will take a little more practice because they involve more intricate sleight of hand.