Whit Haydn and Chef Anton
present
The School for Scoundrels Notes
on
Fast and Loose
written by
Whit Haydn
Featuring: The Jules Lenier Routine
Coil Binding, 8 1/2" x 11', 45 pages, over 40 photos and illustrations.
The School for Scoundrels Notes on Fast and Loose
Contents:
Introduction & History
School for Scoundrels Approach
Beginning Moves
Advanced Moves
Opening the Chain
Lee Earle’s Move
Tying the Knot
Showing the ‘U’ Shape
Opening into the ‘U’ Shape
False Explanations, Come-Ons, and Hooks
The School for Scoundrels Half-Table Layout
Fast and Loose Routines
Jules Lenier Routine
Whit Haydn Routine
Chef Anton Routine
Afterthoughts
Bibliography
Excerpt from Introduction and History:
The street swindle known as Fast and Loose dates at least to the early Renaissance, and probably back into the Middle Ages. This makes it much older than either of its nefarious cousins—the Shell Game or Three Card Monte . In all three scams, the intent of the operator is the same.
In the marketplace, a friendly man sets up a table. He takes a thin strap of leather, the type that the men of the period would use in a garter to hold up their stockings. He folds the strap in half, and then winds it into a coil, forming two identical loops in the center of the coil—one the folded center of the strap, and the other its first fold. These loops look identical.
The fast-talking stranger challenges a spectator to place a stick in the true center loop—the one that holds Fast to the stick when the two ends of the strap are pulled. If the operator pulled and the strap came Loose , the spectator lost his bet. Since the operator could secretly change how the two ends are pulled away, he could always win. Fast and Loose was also called Pricking the Garter.
‘To play fast and loose' has come down into our language as a slang phrase meaning ‘to act foolishly or recklessly':
‘To play fast and loose' is a phrase that appears both in Love's Labor's Lost and in King John and is attributed to Shakespeare as often as ‘It's Greek to me.' But the OED finds the phrase in 1557 as the title of an epigram in a popular miscellany (what we would now call an ‘anthology'). The phrase originally referred to a sleight-of-hand trick.
--Michael Macrone, Brush Up Your Shakespeare!
Sometime in the 18th or 19th century, the scam was resurrected with a new method—one which used a continuous loop of string. The scam artists who worked the docks would often play this con on a barrel top for the sailors. This new version of the game was called On the Barrelhead, from the phrase, “Put your money on the Barrelhead.” It was also known as The Figure Eight and later as The Endless Chain. Two or more loops are formed within the circle of a string (See Figure 1 below). The spectator bets on which loop will hold Fast. In this version, it doesn’t matter in what manner the string is picked up. Instead, the important thing is the method used to lay it out. Laid out in one pattern, one of the loops holds Fast. Laid out in what looked like an identical pattern, none of the loops would hold Fast—the suckers couldn’t win.
Since the theme of both the older Pricking the Garter and the newer On the Barrelhead is the same, and the term Fast and Loose makes a good general heading for this type of trick, I have always taken a liberty and used the term Fast and Loose interchangeably for either swindle—whether one plays On the Barrelhead or Pricking the Garter, one is playing a game of Fast and Loose.
This also allows me to use the history of both games in my patter without bothering to explain the differences between them. I also think that the name Fast and Loose conjures interest in the minds of the spectators, has better potential for patter, and is easier for them to remember.
George Blake can be credited with reviving interest in this nearly forgotten swindle with his 1949 publication of Loopy Loop—A Treatise on the Endless Chain. He notes that the method of the old racetrack game was first published by Ellis Stanyon in his series No. 6, ‘New Miscellaneous Tricks’ in 1900. But this was little more than a diagram of the basic layout and brief explanation of the secret. Blake was the first to publish an entire routine with the Endless Chain. We owe him a lot.
Excerpts from Advanced Moves :
Opening the Chain
Now we come to the advanced moves. I call this first one Opening the Chain . Let's say that the operator has thrown the chain with the right hand in the Down through the chain position. It will look like Figure 14. ‘B' is Fast. ‘C' is Loose—Fast/Loose. The first time we do this move, it is in the demonstration of the game. No one has bet. The operator is explaining the concept and rules.
The operator says, “The loop on my left is Fast. The loop on my right is Loose. I'll show you why.” He picks up the strand of chain that crosses over the center as indicated in Figure 14, and lifts it to the right as in Figure 15. “As you can see, if your finger were pressed here (indicating ‘C') I could lift the chain all the way off around it. Because you are outside the circle of the chain.” Still holding the chain in his right hand as in Figure 15, the operator puts his left index finger in loop ‘B' and presses it against the table. He pulls the chain with the right hand until it is obvious that it can not escape the left finger—it is trapped in a single loop. “If you had been in this loop, you would have won because you are inside the circle of the chain. I couldn't pull the chain free no matter what I did.” Now the operator lays the chain back into the original layout as in Figure 14.
Figure 14
Figure 15
“I'll show you again.” This time the operator lifts the chain as in Figure 15 and shows that the right hand loop is Loose. He carefully replaces the chain as in Figure 14. He presses his left index finger in ‘B' and picks up a strand of chain with his right hand. “See…I can pick up the chain from anywhere. No matter how I pull, it will hold Fast to my finger because I am inside the circle of the chain. In fact, the chain will now be double-looped around my finger.” He lifts up his left finger to clearly show that the chain is circled twice around his finger. “One loop is always inside the loop of the chain; one is always outside.”
So far, everything the operator has said is true, except that last line. That is our big Lie . That is the concept we want the spectators to absorb. That is the way Opening the Chain is first shown to the spectators.
The truth is that the chain can be thrown in a slightly different way, and then both loops are outside the circle of the chain. Lay out the chain again with the right hand, but this time with the hand going Up through the chain. It will look exactly as before in Figure 14. Lift up the chain as in Figure 15
and put your left index finger in ‘B'. Pull the chain from anywhere and it will be held fast in a single loop around your left finger. Now follow all those steps again until you are in the position in Figure 15. This time carefully lower the chain into its original position in Figure 14. Put your left finger in ‘B' and with your right hand pull a strand of the chain. It will come Loose. Lay the chain out once more using the Up through the chain throw with the right hand—Loose/Loose.
Now look at Figure 16. We know that neither ‘B' nor ‘C' can hold Fast. But if we open the chain as in Figure 17, we can seem to prove that B is outside the circle of the chain, and ‘C' is inside. Replace the chain as before, and you can lift it as in Figure 15 and show the opposite. Remember that we always pick up the chain from the strand that is opposite the loop we want to show a loser, and that crosses over the center. If you throw the chain from the left hand the other center strand will cross over the center, and the chain will have to be pulled forward to the left to show ‘B' a loser, and back and to the right to show ‘C' a loser—the opposite of what is shown in these pictures. Make sure you take the strand that goes over the center.
Figure 16
Figure 17
From now on, when we Open the Chain for the spectators it will be to reinforce the Lie . We call this Selling the Lie . The chain is always laid out in the Loose/Loose layout when there is a bet. Neither side holds Fast. The spectator puts his finger in ‘C' and presses down against the table with all his might. The operator says, “I'll show you why you lost,” and reaches with his right hand around the spectator's arm to pick up the chain at the spot indicated in Figure 14. He pulls it up and around as in Figure 15, and says, “See, you are outside the circle of the chain. No matter how I pulled the chain I could never make it hold Fast in that loop!” The operator puts his finger in ‘B' and pulls the chain tight saying, “Here, no matter how I pulled, I could not have pulled the chain free.”
The first explanation of Opening the Chain could be as long or involved as needed. The chain can be thrown from the left, and then the right and opened or pulled from several places until the audience is satisfied with the fairness of the game. In the process, the Down throws from the left or right hands will gradually leave an impression on the spectator's mind that the right hand throws Fast to the left—Fast/Loose, and the left hand throws Fast to the right—Loose/Fast. This partial misconception can be put to good use in reeling the suckers in. During the demonstration phase, if someone catches on to this left hand/right hand thing, I let them win when they guess this way. That is, until the money is ‘on the barrelhead.'
The School for Scoundrels Half-Table Layout
The impetus for the development of this method was a routine by Dennie Flynn (see Trost). Flynn was the first method published that described forming the chain patterns in the air. We call these the Off-Table methods. Although Anton and I believe that the Off-Table methods are too complicated-looking and so discourage spectators from betting, we were impressed by the cleverness and thought that went into this routine. More than that, we were blown away by the method presented for making both loops hold Fast.
We did not know this was possible! This excited us tremendously, and we set about to come up with a method to create a Fast/Fast layout with the Half-Table . It took us hours of fooling around, but we finally came up with a practical way to do this first with the Full-Table , and then with the Half-Table method. We will not go into the Full-Table method in this work, but it should not be hard to construct it from the Half-Table method. To begin with, this method can be thrown from either hand. It produces four possible patterns from either hand. The four patterns are Fast/Loose, Loose/Fast, Loose/Loose, and Fast/Fast. All the patterns are thrown from the Down through the chain position. This enables us to use the Half-Table method as a come-on . Since we can throw from the left or from the right hand and still make either loop hold Fast, the method is more versatile.
The fact that we can throw a pattern in which both loops hold Fast opens a whole new realm of possibilities. For the last two years, Sophie Evans of Las Vegas has been using our method in a routine in which women always win, men always lose—supposedly because boys never stuck around with girls long enough to learn the Cat's Cradle game—they usually walked off before the interesting part of the game got started. There could be a routine where an audience member is assigned the job of shill, and therefore never misses—even though he hasn't a clue how he wins.
The advantages for the street are numerous. The method can be used to lay the chain out as many as four different ways—left forward arc, left backward arc, right forward arc, right backward arc. Each of these will produce the same four layouts—Fast/Fast, Loose/Loose, Fast/Loose, and Loose/Fast (these represent the loops from the operators point of view as in B/C). Each way produces a pattern slightly different from the others, so the spectator hasn't a chance of figuring it out no matter how long he watches.
To begin the throw, the right hand is in the Down through the chain position and circles around as in Figure 31. The left hand (palm down) takes the chain out of the right hand (Figure 32) and turns palm up as it forms a new loop ‘A' as in Figure 33. This loop is laid down inside the left end of the chain (Figure 34), thus forming three loops as in Figure 35—‘A', ‘B', and ‘C'. This is the Away throw. It is called this because loop ‘A' is formed by turning the chain away from the operator. If the Hour Glass is now formed from loops ‘A' and ‘B' (Figure 35), loop ‘A' will be Fast and loop ‘B' will be Fast. If the Hour Glass is formed from loops ‘A' and ‘C' (Figure 35), loop ‘A' will be Fast and loop ‘C' will be loose.
The Toward throw is just as easy. The right hand in the Down through the chain position circles around as in Figure 31. The left hand approaches palm up as in Figure 36 and takes the chain from the right hand. It turns palm down (toward the operator) as it forms loop ‘A' and sets it down in the left end of the chain. The result is Figure 37. If the Hour Glass is now formed from loops ‘A' and ‘B', loop ‘A' will be Loose, and loop ‘B' will be Fast. If the Hour Glass is formed from loops ‘A' and ‘C', loop ‘A' will be Loose and loop ‘C' will be loose. There you have it! Things for the left hand throw are slightly different—but should be easy enough to figure out.
Figure 31
Starting the layout always in ‘Down' through chain position.
Figure 32
Left hand (palm down) takes chain for ‘Away' throw.
Figure 33
Left hand turns palm up for ‘Away' throw.
Figure 34
The left hand places chain down forming three loops.
Figure 35
Loops A, B, and C in ‘Away' throw (Top of loop A crosses over bottom of loop A)
Figure 36
Left hand (palm up) takes chain for ‘Toward' throw.
Figure 37
Loops A, B, and C in ‘Toward' throw (Top of loop A crosses under bottom of loop A).
Figure 38
Thumbs and 1 st fingers spread Loops A and B.
Figure 39
Thumbs and 1 st fingers spread loops A and C.
Jules Lenier
For many years, Jules Lenier has been a close-up favorite at Hollywood's famed Magic Castle. In addition, he has served on the Board of Directors of the Academy of Magical Arts (Magic Castle) , and has served as contributing editor of both Genii and The Talisman magic magazines.
Lenier has been named Close-Up Magician of the Year by the International Brotherhood of Magicians , the Society of American Magicians , and the Academy of Magical Arts (Magic Castle) .
He has created over two hundred magical effects (both close-up and mentalism), and has written several books, with another one currently in the works.
He has written comedy material for a number of top performers, including Dick Shawn, Allen and Rossi, Henny Youngman, Red Buttons, Jan Murray, Alan King, and Phyllis Diller.
Jules has been kind enough to give us much help, info, and insight into the endless chain. His routine is a wonder of economy, and has been performed by top pros such as Mike Skinner and Johnny Thompson. It was an important and influential work in the development of both of our routines (Whit Haydn and Chef Anton). We present Jules Lenier's entire legendary routine with both his patter and performing notes.
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The School for Scoundrels Notes on Fast and Loose
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