on a technique for the hit double lift
The ‘Hit Double’ is a group of techniques that allows the performer to do a double turnover/lift with minimal get ready. In essence, the right index finger feels for two cards along the beveled long edge of the deck immediately prior to picking up the double. While its use have often been eschewed by more experienced conjurers in favour of the push off due to the unnatural manner in which the double is picked up, it remains a valuable technique for its reliability and immediacy.
Paul LePaul was the first to publish the idea in print as 'The Flip-Over Double Lift’ (The Card Magic of LePaul, 1949, p. 69). A year later, Dr. Jacob Daley would publish ‘The Instantaneous Double Lift’ in Stars of Magic (1950, Vol 7 No 2), a conceptually similar, but mechanistically different technique. Given that LePaul never claimed originality for many of the items in his book, it is possible that the concept circulated among those in the know for many years before ever seeing print. Indeed, the credit for inventing the move is most commonly attributed to Daley. Ed Marlo would later coin the term “Hit Method” in The Cardician (1953, p. 52), where he described an almost identical technique to Daley’s.
Years ago Richard Kaufman tipped an (unpublished) technique of Larry Jenning’s on the Genii Forum. It allows for a much easier and fail-proof double as you are only feeling for one card with your right finger. It is described below.
1. Hold the deck in mechanics grip. Bevel the cards to the right and forwards using the heel of your thumb. Your thumb rests gently on top of the deck. A light touch is essential here.
2. Extend your right thumb slightly, moving the top card of the deck counter-clockwise, using its inner left corner as a pivot point. A light touch here ensures only a single card moves. This should be no more than a few millimeters. (Exaggerated here for clarity).
3. Approach the deck with your right hand. With the right index finger, contact the right long edge of the deck and gently lift up a single card. This will the exposed edge of the second card down.
4. Use your left thumb to rotate the top card clockwise to align the top two cards against your right index finger. Simultaneously a slight leftward pressure with your right finger will help to facilitate this process.
5. Flip over the top two cards as one and continue with whatever shenanigans you were about to do.
