The Front And Back Hand Palm
The sleight, or rather flourish, of this title has become quite popular with the conjurers of this country lately. Some have attained a wonderful proficiency in performing it, and have elaborated the original idea considerably. Two descriptions on how to do this skill will be provided – the first as written by A. Roterberg, and the second by Howard Thurston.
A. Roterber’s Description of The Back Hand Palm
I shall give a full description of the sleight proper, but can only treat the elaborations in brief for the simple reason that, on account of their great difficulty, they would be appreciated by a select few only.
Fig 24
As the name of the sleight indicates, one or more cards are palmed, or rather, kept concealed on the back of the hand, being transferred there from the front of the hand. The card is first seized between the thumb and first finger of the right (or left) hand, the inside of which is turned towards the audience. From this place it is transferred to the position shown in Fig. 24, being held between the first and fourth fingers, its lower end being bent into a convex form as indicated in the illustration.
Fig 25
The second and third fingers, which have remained passive up to this moment, now curl under the lower edge of the card (Fig. 25) and twirl it over to the back of the hand, where it is held as shown in Fig. 26. By reversing the process, the card is made to appear at the fingertips.
Fig 26
As the execution of the sleight takes but a moment, the four different stages, or moves are practically made to form one compound movement. The improvements of this sleight consist of being able to show the hand empty from both sides and still have the card palmed anyway. In the act of turning over the hand, in order to show that the card is not concealed on its back, it is removed from there, and by a very adroit process which is almost impossible to describe, is brought back to the inside of the hand where it is palmed by clipping its upper corners between the first and second, and the third and fourth fingers respectively. From this position it is instantly transferred once more to the back of the hand.
After considerable practice, some performers are able to palm a number of cards in this fashion, then produce one card after another at the fingertips (still showing both sides of the hands empty at any stage of the trick).
This descriptionis from the book “Card Tricks and How To Do Them”, published by A. Roterberg.
Howard Thurston’s Description of The Front And Back Hand Palm
The novel sleight with the above title is of comparatively recent invention, the idea it embodies being to enable the performer to conceal one or more cards in his hand, although at any moment showing back and front of the hand to be perfectly empty.
To successfully accomplish this feat, great digital dexterity is essential, but this, of course, can be attained by assiduous practice.
I will first of all describe the method of working this sleight with one card.
To begin with, the card is held between the tips of the middle finger and thumb, as in Fig. 108.
Fig 108
The first and little fingers now grip the card, as in Fig. 109.
Fig 109
The two middle fingers are next bent and brought down under the card and round to the front of same, thereby causing the card to revolve between the first and fourth fingers, as though on an axis, and assume the position on the back of the hand clipped between the first and second and third and fourth fingers, depicted in Fig. 110.
Fig 110
After considerable practice it will be found that all the movements I have just described will become practically one, and the card will apparently vanish from the hand without the most astute spectator having the faintest idea where, especially if the manipulation is accomplished with a sweeping motion, as though the card were thrown in the air.
Now to reverse the card to the front of the hand again, so as to enable the back of the hand to be shown to the audience.
Fig 111
To accomplish this, the fingers bend forward so that the thumb can press on the middle of the face of the card (see Fig. 111), and pull it sharply round to the front of the hand, where it is held between the fingers, as shown in Fig. 112.
Fig 112
The principal difficulty encountered by students when learning this sleight, is to prevent the audience from catching a glimpse of the cards as they are brought from the back to the front of the hand, or vice versa. This can, however, be surmounted by practising before a mirror, as you will then be able to ascertain the exact angle at which the movement can be indetectably accomplished.
To further heighten the effect of the sleight, when the card is in the position (as in Fig. 112), with the back of the hand, of course, facing the audience, I push the card down into the palm, as shown in Fig. 113.
Fig 113
This movement, which is absolutely impossible to describe in writing, will become apparent to the learner after a few trials.
With the card in this position, of course the fingers and thumb can be spread wide apart. When manipulating more than one card, the above movements all hold good, with the exception of bringing the cards from the back of the hand to the front. Instead of the thumb pulling the cards round to the front, which would practically be impossible, it simply presses upon them, while the first finger moves to the other end of the cards, and pushes them down into the attitude illustrated in Fig. 112.
This description is from the book “Card Tricks” by Howard Thurston.
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