Corrupting the Classics: The Four Burglars
Learn several variations of this classic card trick with the four Jacks.
Hello, and welcome to another edition of Corrupting the Classics. In each article, I reinterpret a classic magic trick and offer at least one new way of performing it. Every post also explores the trick’s history and includes information on any notable variations that are worth learning.
In this edition, I’ll be taking a look at the classic card trick commonly known as “The Four Burglars”, “The Four Robbers”, “The Four Bank Robbers”, or sometimes “Cops and Robbers”. You’ll learn four variations, including my extended handling of the plot called “Inside Job”. I’ll also teach you “The Bungling Burglars”, which is based on a trick that was popular when William Shakespeare was alive! However, I’ve included an improved handling and a new presentation based on butt dialling—something I’m pretty sure the Bard never experienced!
In this classic card trick, the magician displays four Jacks, or sometimes four Kings, calling them “burglars”, “thieves”, or “robbers”. He tells a story about them breaking into a house, hotel, or bank, represented by the deck. The Jacks are distributed in different locations throughout the pack. Each location represents an entry point—such as a back door or window—or a room or floor in the building. There are two common endings to this popular trick: either all four Jacks magically gather in the centre of the pack, or they assemble on top of the deck. In most variations, the four criminals escape from law enforcement by fleeing across the rooftops or flying off in a waiting helicopter. However, in some variations, the Jacks are captured by two, three or four police officers, e.g. the two black Kings.
I recently wrote an article on the trick called Refined Robbers for my regular Ruseletter column, Easy Does It. In this post, you can learn the basic handling if you’re unfamiliar with it. You can also watch three video performances by the celebrated English TV magician Paul Daniels (1938-2016). “The Four Burglars” was the very first card trick that he learned as a boy.
Another good place to learn the standard way of performing “The Four Burglars” is within the pages of Modern Conjuring by J.C. Cannell (see pages 3-6).
Incidentally, this is quite likely the very book from which Paul Daniels originally learned the trick as a boy—the included patter is strikingly similar to the words he uses in his videos. Modern Conjuring was also first published in 1940, two years after the famous English magician was born.
The suggested script accompanying the trick in Modern Conjuring, a portion of which I’ve reproduced below, is a little outdated, given that it was written so long ago. Still, it might serve as a good starting point for developing your own unique script for the trick.
“I will perform my first experiment, ladies and gentlemen, with the four knaves. I always commence with this trick, so that I can tell whether I have any control over the cards or not, for I invariably find the knaves the most intractable cards in the pack, and if I prove successful with them I know that I shall not have much trouble with the other cards. Of course, you can get a lot of utility out of the knaves even, if you catch them young enough, and I have four at home so tame that they will eat out of my hand. I will try what can be done with these strangers, but I am a bit dubious about the result, for they are a particularly truculent looking lot.”
Modern Conjuring is in the public domain and can be downloaded for free below. This particular copy is from the William Alma Magic Collection at State Library Victoria in Australia.
While the trick became very popular in the first half of the twentieth century, thanks to books for beginners, like Modern Conjuring, it is much older than that. Let’s look at two handlings based on a trick published in 1591!
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