HUMMER'S GREAT DISCOVERY
Hummer's Great Discovery holds the distinction of being Bob Hummer's first marketed
effect. The manuscript was released through Kanter's Magic Shop in 1939 and promot-
ed in a magic magazine advertisement at the time. The headline read...
Flabbergast 'em with—HUMMER'S GREAT DISCOVERY
Here's the description that followed:
This new brain twister fools 'em all, over and over again. With performer's back turned,
any spectator takes and mixes any 9 or 10 cards from any pack, discarding balance; he
notes one card, replaces on pile, then removes any secret number of cards from top to
bottom, hopelessly losing selected card. Performer offers to find card but decides to let
spectator "do the whole trick". Spectator again removes secret number of cards from top
to bottom, then deals off single cards, giving every other card to performer and placing
the alternate ones on bottom of pile. This is continued until but one card remains in spec-
tator's hand—IT BEING THE CHOSEN CARD!
No sleight of hand, markings, duplicates, or guess work. Printed instructions make it easy
to do and failure impossible. Highly endorsed by LePaul, Carl Frazee, Lu Brent, etc.
METHOD WITH 10 CARDS
With your back turned, a spectator is asked to select ANY TEN CARDS from ANY PACK
and mix them up. The balance of the pack being discarded. The spectator is now asked
to NOTE ONE CARD and place it on TOP of the packet he holds. You explain that
there's no way for you to know what cards he removed from the pack, yet alone the one
he selected. The card he now has in mind is a complete mystery to you. Now to assure
that his card is hopelessly lost, you would like him to "think of ANY NUMBER from 1 to
9,487,365." Once he has a number, he to TRANSFER that many cards from the TOP to
the BOTTOM of his packet of cards. For example, if he is thinking of the number 7, he
would transfer seven cards, ONE AT A TIME, from the top to the bottom. If he is thinking
of 28, he would transfer 28 cards, etc. How many cards he chooses to transfer from the
top to the bottom is entirely up to him, just so long as HE REMEMBERS HIS CARD and
the NUMBER OF CARDS he TRANSFERRED. When he has done this, he is to let you
know.
At this point, you take the packet of cards behind your back and say you will try to find
his card. What you really do (behind your back) is as follows: With the packet held in the
left hand, pull off cards into the right, one at a time – REVERSING their order in the
-2-
process. Then, take the top FIVE in order (do NOT reverse them AGAIN) and move
them as a block to the bottom of the packet.
Bring the packet forward and hand the cards to the spectator saying, "On second
thought, you have done everything so far. Perhaps you would like to be the magician
and do the whole trick. Here is the way you do it. First let's take the number of cards you
transferred from the top a minute ago. But we'll make it even more simple and use just
the LAST DIGIT of your number. So if your number was 7 you would use that. However,
if your number was 28, you would forget the 2 and just use the 8. Please go ahead and
move that many cards from the top to the bottom of the packet." The rest of the trick
works itself!
"And now we'll see what kind of magician you are. Next put the top card on the bottom,
place the next one (top) here on my hand, transfer another to the bottom, put the next
one on my hand, etc. Keep doing this one on the bottom and one on my hand business
until you have only one card left." (All the rest will be on your hand). When the spectator
is left with a single card, ask him to name his card then turn it over. IT IS HIS CARD!
"You see, I knew you were a magician!"
METHOD WITH 9 CARDS
The basic handling with 9 cards is the pretty much same as for 10 with a couple of
important exceptions. The first one comes when you place the cards behind your back.
You reverse the order of the cards exactly as before, however in this case, you move
the top SIX cards in order from the top to the bottom (instead of five).
The second difference is that instead of using the last digit of the number transferred,
the spectator ADDS the digits of his number together. So if his number was 28, he
would add the 2 and the 8 together to get 10...and then transfer 10 cards from the top to
the bottom. If his number has only one digit, he would simply use that (just as before).
The rest of the trick works exactly the same way.
ALLOWING SPECTATOR TO TAKE 9 OR 10 CARDS
You can, of course, allow the spectator to take 9 "or" 10 cards at the start. His choice.
In that case, you simply count the cards as you are reversing them and then shift the
appropriate number (5 or 6) from the top to the bottom. You must also instruct him to
use either the last digit of his number (if working with 10 cards) or to add those digits
together (if there are 9). These minor variations in handling are easy to remember and
further strengthen the effect by conveying the impression that the number of cards used
doesn't really matter.
-3-
FINAL THOUGHTS
Hummer's Great Discovery is a remarkable and nearly self-working card miracle. Just
be sure to give the spectator clear instructions and make sure he follows them without
getting ahead of you. That's important. As long as he does what you instruct him to do,
you'll find the effect is foolproof. It is also one you will always be ready to perform with
borrowed cards!
-4-