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Magic And Magicians
Mr. Ellis Stanyon published his monumental MAGIC magazine from 1900 to 1914. Publication was interrupted by the First World War, that terrible confrontation which changed so many things in Europe. After the war, MAGIC was again published, sadly, for a short span: from September 1919 to June 1920. The pages of MAGIC hide what even today we might term a veritable treasure of Magical Knowledge. Here you can find from the smallest of pocket tricks to the biggest illusions of the day, passing through the whole spectrum of magic: card and coin tricks, mental effects, silk and ball tricks, magic with liquids, chemical and fire tricks, and still a lot more. But besides the tricks and secrets, Stanyon's MAGIC is also a priceless bibliographical and historical reference. In this latter context, Stanyon published what he termed "Explanatory Programmes" being the sequence of tricks in the acts of the Magic Stars of his time which he commented upon, adding his own explanation of the effects in question. I am convinced that the study of magicians' programs in general is a valuable learning tool. Old magicians' programs in particular, offer us many ideas, mostly unknown in our time, so
Explanatory Programmes All the following programs have Mr. Stanyon's explanations to the tricks described. Hyperlinks to other references and explanations have been added. Nicola (Lahore, India--February 1911) Carl Hertz (Empire--December, 1903) Carl Hertz (Hippodrome, August, 1904) Horace Goldin (Palace Theatre-June, 1900) Horace Goldin (Palace Theatre-July, 1901) Horace Goldin (Palace Theatre-May, 1907) More to come!
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much so that we might even categorize them as "original." For the reason stated above, I have decided to begin publishing these programmes here, adding, when necessary, links to Mr. Stanyon's references. I hope this job meets with your approval. More than that.... my purpose is that by placing this information at the reach of all TLPP's members it serves as an educational tool that will allow all of us to further the future of the Art of Magic by gaining a better understanding of its past.
Marko
Stanyon's Explanatory Programmes Taken from the pages of his MAGIC magazine (1900-1914 and 1919-1920)
Nicola and Company of Sensational Mystifiers Lahore, India, February, 1911 Published in Stanyon's Magic, April-June 1911
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A very young Nicola on Particulars of this programme very a photograph published kindly communicated to me by Lieut. in 1905. R.S.H. Townshend. The following
stage assistants are used: 1. A Burlesque Conjurer and Juggler, Prof. Dossky. 2. An assistant about the same height as the performer, with a moustache. 3. A short lady assistant. 4. A lady assistant of medium height. 5. A third lady assistant, duplicate of No. 4. For convenience the assistants above-named are hereafter referred to by their respective numbers. Curtain rises revealing stage set with various magical paraphernalia. Two lady assistants (3 and 4) then enter and stand one on either side of stage. Tree from Walking Stick.--Performer enters carrying stick and hat, handing the latter to one of the assistants who places it aside on table for use in the umbrella trick which follows. He then stands the stick, provided with a point for the purpose, upright in centre of stage; a moment later he raises the stick revealing a tree. Coloured features arranged on steel red previously concealed in hollow stick. Candle Changed to Bouquet, &c.--Lady assistant (3) brings on candle in holder, also handkerchief. Performer covers candle with handkerchief, then raising the latter reveals feather bouquet, candle having disappeared; same method as tree from stick, dummy candle being laid aside in handkerchief. He then takes bouquet from candlestick, and causes it to multiply into two bouquets, handing one to each lady assistant. Second bouquet obtained from left breast pocket in left hand, the two placed together surreptitiously then separated. Umbrella and Ribbons.--Umbrella opened and shown, then closed and rolled up in a piece of cloth and given to assistant (3) to hold. Performer now produces, magically, eight pieces of silk ribbon these are rolled up and placed in the hat aforementioned which is held by assistant No. 4, pistol, umbrella pulled from roll of cloth and found minus cover, but with a piece of ribbon hanging from each rib. Umbrella closed and replaced in roll cf cloth, and its cover discovered
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in the hat in place of the ribbons. Cover replaced in hat, pistol, when the umbrella is once more pulled cut of the roll and found restored, and the ribbons are discovered in the hat shown otherwise empty. Trick hat with division hinged across centre to fold over to either side would be best for this trick, but I have already given a full explanation of two methods of performing it, in MAGIC for July, 1907. Umbrella Changes to Table.--Umbrella brought on and stuck upright in the floor changes to small table; the usual mechanical piece. Handkerchief Shot on to Point of Sword.--Performer loads silk handkerchief into conjuring pistol and shoots same on to point of sword held some distance away by an attendant. The silk loaded into pistol either remains in same in separate barrel, or is palmed out by means of the well-known loose cup; the duplicate is released at the right moment from the hand of assistant, being drawn to the point of sword by tension of a length of elastic, the opposite end of which has been previously passed down inside the blade and fastened at the hilt. Another method is as follows: Tie the handkerchief to one end of a length of stout black thread and place it in a pocket; pass the free end of the thread through a small eyelet at the point of the sword; then grasp it firmly in the left hand, holding the sword in the right hand. Extending the right arm will then pull the handkerchief out of the pocket on to the point of sword when the whole may be placed aside. Black eye glass cord is perhaps better than thread, and the length is best found by experiment. N.B.--There is another form of pistol arranged to vanish a handkerchief laid visibly over the muzzle. The centre of the silk is pressed over a hook held in position by a mechanical device and attached to a length of elastic passing down the barrel, out at the lower end, and down the side of the butt to the extreme end of which it is fixed at high tension. On a pull being imparted to the trigger the hook is released and forthwith flies to the opposite end of the barrel carrying the silk along with it. The barrel is specially made of brass tubing, 8-1/4 inches in length, and of the same diameter throughout. Percussion caps only are used with this pistol. Up to this point the performance conducted in silence.
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Chinese Rings.--Performer introduces eight or nine rings, telling their history with a strong American accent, then going amongst audience offering each and every ring for examination. During the examination assistant (1) enters with small table on which is lighted candle in holder on cloth; jerks cloth from under candle and bows; throws cloth over table, then raises it, and shows candle gone out; again throws cloth over the whole, then raises it and shows that candle has vanished-taken away in cloth--and retreats. Performer returns to stage, changing the examined rings on the way for the usual trick set of twelve. Usual business with the rings. Rising and falling Ball on upright rod.--Shows a nickelplated rod which he screws to an iron base and places on table. Next hands a wooden ball with a hole through it for inspection; taking back the ball drops it over rod, when it rises and falls at command. It is further made to reply to questions, rising and failing, once for "Yes," twice for "No," and three times for doubtful," Funny business for this effect explained at length in last issue of Magic in connection with the talking hand. (Thread tied to top of rod). Drum Trick.--The usual nickel-plated band and two rings made up, apparently empty, in front of audience, Assistant comes on carrying two sheets of paper concealing "load" hanging on front of person. Body of drum placed behind front sheet of paper and ring pushed on to make paper end. The paper is then taken from assistant and reversed, showing drum empty. Returned to assistant in this position, and rear paper then removed and pressed over open end of drum with the remaining ring, the "load "made up similarly being pushed into drum through rear paper end at the same time; this leaves both ends apparently intact. Paper end of drum now broken and quantity of small flags produced and placed on tray brought on for the purpose and containing pagoda and large U.S.A flag on telescopic staff. Bundle of flags lifted from tray, and pagoda produced from same (hung up), followed by flag on staff--performer retires. Ribbon running from pagoda is caught in tub held by assistant; my correspondent does not say, but I presume this is the trick tub to release ducks or pigeons and which appear to be produced from the ribbons.
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Trick with Borrowed Rings.--Performer reappears and borrows four finger rings, receiving same on a short stick, change in usual manner and dummy rings dropped on plate, He proceeds to drop three of the rings, one at a time, down the barrel of a rifle, forcing each down with a heavy ramrod to the consternation cf the owners; the fourth ring will not go in the rifle, and is forthwith made tractable by means of a hammer. The hammer is brought on by assistant (3) who receives the borrowed rings and retires to attach them by ribbon, one to each of a like number of the performer's business cards; they are then placed in a small box suspended behind side table to be taken on stage as required, Rifle is then fired at a nest of boxes which has been hanging in full view from the outset. Box opened, and another one discovered inside, removed and placed on the table brought on at this moment, for the purpose. Several other boxes discovered, the last one being minus a bottom to admit of the prepared one being loaded into it from servante. Removing the last box the performer takes same into the auditorium, allowing the owners to open it and remove their property. N.B.--A more interesting form of this trick, and explained in greater detail will be found in Magic for July, 1910, page 76. Rising Cards.--Four persons each call out the name of a card the performer removing each from the pack then handing the whole for inspection, and allowing any person to shuffle the chosen cards with the rest. He then returns to stage, holding the pack in the left hand, the right hand being held aloft. The chosen cards then rise from the pack one after the other and pass upwards into the right hand. The fourth card started rising rather fast, and was told to return and rise slowly, which it did; then when it had reached the right hand, the performer walked away, leaving it suspended in mid-air. He then signed to the card to come down, which it did, sinking to within a few inches of the floor; it then rose again to a height of about five feet when the performer took it, and at once showed it back and front. As the cards are called out an assistant behind scenes takes duplicates from another pack, every card of which is provided with a "lip" on its back, as explained and illustrated in Magic for February, 1901. The duplicate cards are placed on the top of another duplicate pack, Which is then placed on the servante of a small side table, and carried on by the assistant; all this is done while the chosen cards are being shuffled into
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the pack by a spectator. Returning to stage performer walks behind table and changes the pack for the prepared one. The cards are caused to rise by means of a thread stretched right across the stage from either wing, and at a height where the performer can just reach it with the extended right hand. The thread passes over bright nails driven into each wing and to both ends, which should reach nearly to the floor, are tied a few cards to act as counterweights. The right hand is first raised (to secure the thread), and a card commanded to rise, This failing, the hand is lowered and squares the pack together at the same time the thread is passed under the "lip" of the rearmost card. The right hand is then passed across, above, and below the pack, and seeming all round it, in order to prove the absence of any connection, the card meanwhile being kept from rising by pressure of the left thumb. The right hand is then raised again, pressure of left thumb relaxed, and up goes the card; it is brought down again, and placed in front of the pack in the left hand, the same action sufficing to place the thread under the "lip" of the next card to rise. Repeated for the remaining cards. The effect of the suspended card will be managed by attendants in each wing manipulating the ends of the thread as required. This trick was well executed and well applauded. Cards Jump from Glass Tumbler.--Another pack of cards placed in glass tumbler when every card jumps out with the exception of one. My correspondent does not say whether or not this was a selected card. But I have already explained the trick at great length and with variations in Magic for February and May, I904. Throwing Cards to all parts of the House.--A full explanation, illustrated, of this skilful trick will be found in my "Conjuring with Cards," pp. 15-17, q.v. In this case the cards so distributed bore the photograph of the performer. Chinese Rice Bowls.--Fully explained in MAGIC for March, 1904, in conjunction with a new method of vanishing a glass of water, the water reappearing in the bowls in place of the rice. Collapsible Table.--The above trick concluded the Rice Bowls were carried off on tray by an assistant, The performer then snatched up the table, which folded up very rapidly into
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the form of a gladstone bag, carrying which in one hand he bowed and retired. End of Part I. Curtain.
Juggling and Comedy.--The second part of the programme is opened by Prof. Dossky, who comes on attired as a tramp juggler, followed by a perambulator with a wooden cowcatcher in front; this comes on by itself, travelling from the right hand rear corner of stage to centre of footlights. Sloping stage and front wheels set to describe the quarter circle would account for the movements. Performer pushes the perambulator back the same way behind the wings, when it once more rolls down the stage to the footlights. He then takes three bails from the perambulator and juggles with them; then with four balls; also tricks with cigars, hats, plates, coin on umbrella, etc. Back scene represents the sea, with some rocks on one side, beyond which is some pasture land. There is a cock, 2 hens and a cow on the land, a fisherman on the rock and a man o' war on the sea. Suddenly loud reports are heard and puffs of smoke come from the side of the man o' war; then a shell comes on from the side and hits the performer on the head, then two more shells arrive with a crash on the stage. First shell rubber ball painted; the other two made of wood. The performer here produces a toy pistol and fires at the man o' war, which sinks slowly. The fisherman is then seen to be struggling with his rod and line, having apparently hooked a large fish. Performer fires the toy pistol at the fisherman, who disappears. He then walks over to one of the hens, which lays an egg in his hand; the other then does likewise. Then suddenly noticing the cock, he advances towards it, and placing his hand near, receives another egg. He then seizes the cow's tail, which he works up and down like a pump handle, at the same time holding a glass under its udder. The glass is rapidly filled with milk, with which the performer retires to refresh himself. The sinking of the man o' war is accounted for by the fact that there is a slit in the scene through which it is pulled (downwards). The sinking was most realistic, the bow sank first, followed by the stern, then the whole ship disappeared. The disappearance of the fisherman was effected in a similar manner. The eggs were dropped through small slits in the
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scene, and the milk was poured through a small hole with the aid of a funnel. The cow's tail was made of a piece of cloth, filled with some soft material, and was sewn to the scene in a manner to enable the performer to work it about as described.
The third and last part of the programme as follows: Spiritualistic Cabinet.--Low narrow oblong platform on six short legs wheeled to centre of stage; on the platform is a screen-like arrangement which is then unfolded and arranged round back and sides of platform to form a Cabinet. The front, a separate piece put on afterwards, consists of a framework having two doors each with the usual diamond shape opening with blind hanging inside each. Doors opened to show the interior empty, then closed and the cabinet wheeled round to show all sides. Sticks, bells, tambourines, &c., were then placed inside the cabinet, doors closed and the usual manifestations took place. Evidently done with the aid of an assistant, probably concealed at the outset behind the screen-like arrangement on the platform when this was placed in position he would be standing on a small step at the rear, ready to enter the cabinet (via a secret door in the back), after the same had been shown empty and closed, and to admit of it being turned round and inspected as described. In conclusion the assistant would again pass through the secret panel on to step at rear. Cabinet opened and pushed to rear of stage (to admit of assistant escaping through trap in scene), then turned round to admit of all parts of outside being once more inspected. Other methods are a run-down shot from trap in rear scene to rear of cabinet, folding mirror inside cabinet, &c.; or the several methods worked in conjunction with one another, arrangement and timing of the various movements, &c. The Multiplying Chair.--The performer snatches up a chair, and, pulling it quickly apart, there are two chairs. One made to telescope over the other. Handcuff Tricks.--The usual business, a full explanation of which I have already given in MAGIC, for November and December, 1902, and January, February and March, 1903; see also my No. 13 Serial, "Great Handcuff Tricks." Nicola issues
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a handbill bearing a friendly challenge to the police and others to bring their own handcuffs (regulation), and try to secure him. He came to the front of the stage and asked if anyone had brought any handcuffs. About six people walked, up and took chairs on the stage, each having pair of handcuffs or leg-irons--evidently planted. He proceeded to have these placed on one or two at a time, then went under canopy, and came out again with his hands free and the handcuffs open. One pair of ordinary English regulation cuffs, he said, looked so easy he would take them off in front of the audience. This he proceeded to do--evidently faked. Handcuff, Sack and Box Illusion.--I have already given a full explanation of this in MAGIC for October, 1903, q.v. A later method of escape from the sack in the box, is for the performer to be genuinely tied up by anybody in an ordinary sack and to cut this open at the bottom from corner to corner. The performer gets out and the lady gets in via this rough opening. Then, in conclusion, and when the box is opened, the lady stands on the bottom of the sack so that it cannot be inadvertently raised. The committee then examine the seals and finally open the sack, which the lady pushes down into the bottom of the box, then steps out and closes the lid. As the sack was carefully examined in the first place no one wants to look at it now; all the same if they do--they don't. Milk Can Escape.--For my explanation of this illusion, where the performer, completely immersed in water, milk or other fluid, is locked in a large galvanised iron can, yet effects his escape, as is necessary under the circumstances, in less than a minute, see MAGIC, for January and February, 1909. A Topsy-Turvey Illusion.--A lady is strapped to an iron frame, which is then bolted to the back of a narrow upright cabinet, only just large enough to hold the lady in this position. Cabinet closed-pistol---opened, and lady found upside down, i.e., standing on her head. The two lady assistants, Nos. 4 and 5 (doubles) are necessary for this illusion. The one, fixed to a duplicate iron frame, is passed up through the stage upside down, and fixed in such position on the back of the cabinet; this is done under cover of fixing the other lady in position at the same time. Then, under cover of closing the doors in front, a hand is placed on the back of the cabinet, which is turned round, being pivotted top and bottom, and the trick is done.
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N.B.--A detailed explanation of the above illusion will be found in MAGIC for November, 1906. Doll Changed to Lady.--Box on low stand wheeled round by attendants, that all parts may be inspected. Lid and front opened to show empty, then a small doll placed in a little box and put inside the larger one--closed. Pistol fired, then box opened and found to contain lady dressed like the doll. See my explanation of the Beau Brocade Illusion, in MAGIC for October, 1909, and which applies. Production of Diogenes from Glass Lined Trunk.--Trunk shown empty and lined all over with pieces of plate glass, then closed, apparently empty. Pistol fired, then trunk opened revealing Diogenes inside. Evidently another version of the Beau Brocade Illusion referred to above. Novel Suspension.--Nicola laid himself down flat on the table, his hands stretched back. Dossky from behind then joined his hands together and placed his finger tips on the performer's nose. His body then commenced to float upwards and continued so to move slowly until it reached the perpendicular, heels in the air, and apparently balanced by the finger tips on the performer's nose. Invisible wires seem the only solution. N.B.--In addition to the valuable help rendered me in respect to the above programme by Lieut. R. S. H. Townshend, I have also received similar assistance from my esteemed subscriber, R. P. Varma, I.S.C., of Paina, India. The above explanations are my own, i.e., they are not necessarily the methods employed by Mr. Nicola.
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Carl Hertz Empire, Dec., 1903 Published in Stanyon's Magic, January 1904 Enters, conventional evening attire, white gloves and wand, and while making short introductory speech, removes gloves, rolling one up inside the other and vanishing ball in the act of giving it stage attendant (pass I. from L. H., wand, and left tail pocket). Next introduces an oblong brass bird cage, on mahogany base, containing two canaries. Both birds are openly removed from cage, and placed in paper bag, which is screwed up, and suspended on brass stand made for the purpose. Blows paper bag to bits with revolver, and birds reappear in the same cage held by stage attendant. I have already explained, in a recent issue, the methods employed in re to the bag. The cage, in this case, was separated from the wooden base, and both parts twisted about for examination, then put together again. The base is simply a wooden frame about 2-1/2 in. deep. There is a spring blind roller at one end upon which is rolled a black blind. This is pulled out
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and the free end is attached to the opposite end of cage. This is the normal condition of the cage. There is now a rod running across the centre of cloth bottom, from side to side, and to the centre of this rod is fixed a ring; if now the blind be pulled still further out, and this ring be hooked on to the end of a moveable lever on end of cage, a bag of cloth will be left hanging down, but concealed by the depth of the wooden base. It is into this bag that the duplicate birds are put; and it will now be seen that a touch of the lever will cause the "blind" to run back to its normal position setting free the birds. Next follows the Noah's Ark Illusion, in connection with which Mdlle D'Alton plays her part extremely well, and with much dispatch. An explanation of this illusion will be found in "Magic and Stage Illusions" (Hopkins). Crystal Clock Dial suspended on brass stand. The pointer is removable, and both parts examined. Pointer set spinning on dial stops at any hour audience desire (no confederates); also tells the number thrown by a pair of dice. The dice have, doubtless, the same number oh each of their six sides, as after the throw is made, performer requests that they be not uncovered until the the pointer stops; when therefore the pointer stops and the cover is removed all attention is rivetted on the upper side of the dice to check them with the clock. Performer quickly picks up the dice, and probably changes them for a different pair when handing them to another spectator. The clock then tells the number that will be thrown, which is, of course, equally simple. To prove the absence of wires, threads, or electricity, the clock is next held by member of audience, and stops at any hour called. The construction of the clock, to stop as required, will be found explained on p. 11 of this Volume. Vanity Fair Illusion (see "Magic" by Hopkins), follows next in which Mddle D'Alton again takes part. Performer next introduces a six sided bowl about 12 inches diameter. The bowl appears empty, but from it are drawn six boquet streamers, each of which are hung upon a special stand, in line to make as much display as possible. Performer next shakes bowl which drops into the form of a six sided pagoda; this is also hung up on stand in front of boquets, and a large quantity of paper ribbon is spun out from bottom of pagoda. One rabbit is produced from ribbon, and the one rabbit is multiplied into two rabbits in the bare hands (usual methods). The two rabbits are now placed on centre table, and one rubbed into the other (rabbit trap); the remaining rabbit is thrown in the air several times in the vicinity of servante at rear of centre table, finally dropped
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into servante as other hand fires pistol at rabbit supposed to be in midair. The vanished rabbit is next produced from collar of gent's coat in audience (performer gets close up to gent and introduces with his right hand duplicate rabbit from his own pocket, under gent's coat. He then thrusts bis left hand down back of gent's coat to meet the right hand; the rabbit being passed from the right to left hand and forthwith drawn from the collar. It seemed to me the gent was a trifle ruffled, and I am pretty sure the rabbit came in for its share of the treatment. A small oblong tub was next placed on a stool and filled (by the performer) with the ribbons extracted from the pagoda. Three live ducks then made their appearance out of the ribbons, or what is more likely from the trick interior of tub, and into view, through the ribbons. Chinese Pagoda Illusion. Performer next openly attires himself in a loose fitting silk chinese costume, trousers, coat and wig: and in the meantime are arranged at rear of stage, one on each side, a couple of small cabinets, each cabinet being mounted on a skeleton scaffolding and accessible only by a pair of steps. Each cabinet is square with one door in front and only large enough to contain comfortably, one person in a sitting posture. The interiors of cabinets are lined with a sombre fancy design, the patterns running from floor to ceiling. A lady attired chinese costume and seated in sedan chair is now carried on to stage by attendants. This lady mounts the steps and takes up her position in the right hand cabinet as you face the stage. The door of cabinet is shut. The performer next takes up his position in the opposite cabinet, door is shut and steps removed, pistol is fired, No. 1 cabinet is opened and found empty, No. 2 is opened and in place of performer is found the lady from No. 1, while the performer discovers himself in the guise of one of the stage attendants. Here is an explanation of the Chinese Pagoda Illusion. The lady steps out of the sedan chair in which she is carried on to stage by attendants; she is most perfectly disguised in Chinese robes, wig., etc., and consequently it is difficult if not impossible to distinguish her from her "double" especially as the two are never seen together for comparison. This lady mounts the steps and takes up her position in the cabinet on the right of stage probably sits on half-round shelf attached to bottom of revolving back of cabinet, which carries her to the outside at rear so that cabinet may be shown empty. Performer gets clear away under the pretext of pushing attendants with sedan chair off stage at wings. His double (presumably performer)
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instantly reappearing and taking up his position in cabinet on opposite side of stage, at the rear of which is now duplicate lady on half round shelf (this lady was previously inside cabinet when it was turned about to show all sides). Spring is again released which brings duplicate performer to outside at rear and lady to inside of cabinet. In the meantime performer has donned the attire of stage attendant and now appears as one of several of these functionaries, fires pistol and assists in placing steps against the scaffolding supporting cabinets, doors of which are now opened and No. 1 cabinet is seen empty, the lady is found in No. 2 in place of performer (having apparently passed from one cabinet to the other)while performer pulls off his stage attendant's coat, etc., and thus discovers himself to the astonishment of an appreciative audience. N.B.--The base of each of the wooden structures supporting cabinet is considerably wider than the top, evidently necessary to obtain the desired stability of the structure for working the illusion on these lines.
Carl Hertz Hippodrome, August, 1904 Published in Stanyon's Magic, September 1904 Novel Wine Trick.--One side of stage set with lady at bar. Hertz comes on dressed as swell, goes to bar and orders drinks, &c., &c. (very much &c., &c.). He eventually receives a jug of water and several tumblers, and proceeds to perform the trick described in our "New Fire Tricks and Chemical Magic" as Stanyon's Crystal Water Mystery, page 11, only instead of stout he uses red wine. For the red effect, see pages 9 and 10 of the book referred to above. Eggs from the Mouth.--A couple of attendants come on, and each removes a tray used in the above trick. As they go to leave the stage performer stops them, and proceeds to remove a number of eggs from their mouths, taking an egg from the mouth of each alternately. The
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turning about from the one to the other giving the necessary cover for obtaining the eggs. Ribbons from Bottle.--Lady leaves bar and takes a seat at small round table with performer, who proceeds to pour out wine from bottle, then to take out of bottle a length of coloured ribbon (about two yards long), and continuing to remove wine and ribbon (perfectly dry the ribbon-the wine is wet), removing in all some six lengths of ribbon, which are handed to lady. In the midst of the revel a policeman rushes in, presumably to clear the house, and performer disposes of lady by means of the "Vanity Fair" Illusion, the working of which will, doubtless, be known to most of our readers. Policeman pulls down screen from mirror expecting to find lady hidden behind it, but she has vanished completely. A little later she reappears at the "wings." Cabinet and Vanishing Lady (from Table) Illusion.--Performer dons long, loose robe, cap, and whiskers, completely disguising himself as a monk. Meanwhile lady (employed in previous illusion) goes into the cabinet to change her costume, handing out to monk a portion at a time, her dress, stays, petticoat--well--&c., &c. The monk carries off the lady's attire, portion at a time, and eventually, and while momentarily out of sight at the "wing," is changed for his "double," lady comes out of cabinet attired in tight-fitting costume. This done, she takes her seat on chair set on rear end of oblong table (front end of table faces audience, and table is covered with cloth reaching almost to stage. Lady is covered with red cloth by an assistant and it appears that the chair is of similar construction to that employed in the old vanishing lady trick. The monk (the "double") now goes into cabinet; lady disappears from chair and is found in cabinet. Monk comes on at "wings," and, divesting himself of his robes, reveals Hertz. Work it out!! Bowl and Pagoda.--Six boquet garlands are produced from bowl about couple Of inches deep. Bowl changes into pagoda with paper ribbons running from the bottom. Garlands and pagoda are hung on special brass stand. One rabbit is produced from ribbon, and multiplied into two rabbits. One rabbit rubbed into the other (trap on table), and other rabbit thrown into air several times, and fired at with pistol and vanishes, dropped on to the servante in last throw. Table forthwith removed by assistant. Duck Tub.--Small tub placed on small Indian box table, ribbons (taken from pagoda pushed into tub, and three ducks and two pigeons come out of tub.
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I don't know what to call the next. Call it a Spectacular Patriotic Display, it is scarcely an illusion, A large threepanelled framework is seen at rear of stage, Each panel is about (I am guessing; only seen it once) 5 ft. by 3 ft. The centre panel represents a map of the world, the panels to the right and left, respectively, the Stars and Stripes and Union Jack. Performer calls attention to the map, and proceeds to pull out from different portions of it--the different countries--flags of the particular country. Much applause was noticeable on the production of the Japanese flag. Having produced some dozen or more flags the map flies open (star trap principle), and "Britannia" (lady assistant) is seen seated on a swing. Britannia descends, shows herself at her best, and retires. As already stated, this is scarcely an illusion, but it is nevertheless an exceedingly pretty and interesting display, and secured the plaudits of a delighted audience. Chinese Rice Bowls.--Explained in a recent issue of this journal. Indian Basket and Basket Cabinet Illusion.--Performer dons Indian costume, loose coat, trousers, turban (which effectually masks the features), &c., &c. To remove a certain portion of his attire he, without raising suspicion, goes behind portable screen, set close to drop scene, and here he is doubtless changed by means of trap in scene for his "double." To add realism to this ruse the certain portion of his attire is thrown over screen and "double" appears. "Double" gets into basket (the usual big bottom affair) and out again presumably to show it is empty. The basket is placed on table. Opens cabinet (this is made in straw painted green matching basket) and finds lady therein. Takes lady from cabinet and puts her into basket and covers basket with cloth. Next takes up bis position in the cabinet, and door closed. Policeman comes rushing on, removes cloth from basket and jumps into it, presumably to indicate lady has vanished, but rather, lady is there all the time curled round the big bottom. Policeman next opens cabinet and finds lady therein; then forth with divests himself of his policeman's garb, revealing Hertz.
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Horace Goldin Palace Theatre, June 1900 Published in Stanyon's Magic, August 1904 Performer comes on with a rush as usual, suggesting nothing so much as a fire, and fire there is sure enough, for snatching a cloth held in readiness by one of his several assistants, he produces a bowl of fire from its folds (for how to produce the fire bowl in the most effective manner see our issue for June last). Novel Drum Trick.--Assistant holds up a whole sheet of newspaper, breast high, and Goldin shows a nickle-plated band (drum), about 6 inches diameter (the diameter must be such that the performer can span it without difficulty) by 4 or 5 inches deep; also a N.P. band about 1 inch deep and large enough to pass readily over the drum. Passing the drum behind the paper anti the band in front, he presses them together, the paper thus forming one end of the drum: taking the the paper from the assistant, he shows it on all sides, returning it to assistant with the open side of drum facing audience. Taking another, and smaller piece
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of paper, and another N.P. band he presses them on to the open end of drum to complete it: this movement neces. sitates pressure from behind, so behind goes the disengaged hand (now, not having been behind the paper, I am only supposing) to first remove from under the assistant's coat, a duplicate drum (but a trifle smaller) made up in exactly the same manner as above described and containing a load of flags of all sizes and nations, and secondly, and in the act of bringing the hand on to rear of drum to secretly force the second drum through the paper into the interior of the first. Taking all from assistant, performer tears off surplus paper and attaches the drum (with the aid of rings on its sides) to the ends of cords (brought from wings by assistants) leaving it suspended in the air in centre of stage. Flags are now produced from drum one by one and laid over the outstretched arm of assistant who stands side on to audience, when all are out the drum is removed by assistants and cords are handed to performer who apparently attaches them to bundle of flags taken from man's arm--he really attaches them to the outside corners of a pair of very large flags (Ensign & U.S.A.) joined together and taken from inside of man's coat under cover of the others, the smaller ones he grabs into a compact bundle which is hidden (as he is himself for that matter) behind the larger flags rising as the pull is put on the cords. When both large flags are fully extended performer drops bundle of small flags behind one of them to be instantly carried away by an assistant, at same time he himself emerges between the two large flags. Trick of inertia.--Goes to table, takes some refreshment, replaces jug and glass on table, then takes two front corners of cloth and snatches it off table without moving or upsetting anything. Observe that the objects are placed on a tray and that the cloth does not overhang the rear corners of table. Rice Bowl and Vanishing Water,--followed next, for a full explanation of which see our issues for March and May last. Performer worked the usual amusing sleight with the paper bag that had contained the rice. The water found in bowls was poured into a flower pot, over which a handkerchief was waved when a tree, some 12 inches high, shot up out of pot. Illusion No. 1--A small platform on four short legs is run over centre trap on stage close to drop scene, on the platform is placed a light paper cube in size about a couple of feet, the cube suddenly changes to one double the size, platform is wheeled to the front and a lady jumps out of cube. A nickel-plated stave of music is now lowered from the "flies" (stretching nearly across stage) covered with N.P. notes; to this stave is suspended at regular interval an octave of "top" hats each hat
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containing bells of a different tone. Lady produced from cube, dances in time to band and at the same time plays the accompaniment of bells by kicking the hats as required, a very good exhibition of high kicking sure, as the hats hang about on a level with the lady's shoulders. Weighing Machine Illusion.--This is drawn to centre of stage, The pans are some 3ft. in the air, the whole being mounted on a sort of box arrangement in centre. Box steps on wheels are run up to one of the pans (the steps stand over sheet of paper spread on the floor) to enable a lady to take her position in the pan. When she is in position a curtain is dropped from beam all round her and weights ? are placed into the opposite pan to produce the supposed balance. I say supposed, because no sooner is lady covered than she must pass from pan into box steps to be wheeled away. When the balance trick is obtained a pistol is fired and pan occupied by lady goes up, while the lady or her double appears in body of hall calling out "Here I am." The curtains and skirt part of the trick are, doubtless, managed exactly similar to the illusion Escape from Sing Sing, explained and illustrated in Vol. II of "Magic" p. 4. The way the "balance" is really effected will be found explained and illustrated at pp. 143--6 of "Robinson's Spirit Slate Writing." Production of Flowers in Pots on Special Tables.--See "Leaves from Conjurer's Scrap Books" (Burlingame) which besides an explanation and illustrations, gives excellent "patter" for the trick, pp. 86-90. Trick Table.--This is an oblong ordinary looking table (about 3 ft. by 2 ft.) but capable of producing an extraordinary surprise. Performer smacks it heavily on the top to prove solidity, then quickly takes it by the ends in each hand and it is instantly closed up into a compact little parcel no larger than an ordinary dress suit case and carried off in the hand by the handle as the case would be. Aga illusion.--Latest floating lady from box in centre of stage in full light. Eggs and Duck Tub followed next. Canary and Cage.--Explained in same artiste's programme given at p. 4, Vol. II of "Magic." Eggs on Tray.--An explanation of this trick of Inertia will be found in "Magic" for November, 1903; see also the additional effect suggested to me by Mr. Thorn and given at p. 87 of this volume. The Lion's Bride Illusion.--A raised cage is seen in centre of stage,
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one half of which contains what appeared to be a lion, it may be a lion but the hind quarters rather suggested "poodle" to me; he was rather closely packed not at all ferocious or even demonstrative, and I could not get a good look at his head. (I am not attempting to under-rate the illusion, merely to explain it--use a full grown, 'forest bred LION if you like--and to cart him about, mind, and KEEP him, but that is not necessary for the illusion). The cage, for effect, is guarded by an outer cage, probably wood, but it looks like iron; the lady is introduced and having taken up her position in her part of the cage, the outer cage is removed in sections by the attendants and so quickly that no indication of weight is given. Blinds are drawn round the cage with the lion and his bride, the indispensable pistol is fired, curtains are raised and cage is seen empty and is forthwith pushed back (on wheels) into a special recess at rear (centre) of stage. The disappearance from cage may be effected by three or four of the usual methods employed for similar effects, so as I am getting "held up" for space will omit any explanation of this part. The cage out of the way a large trunk is seen in process of being lowered front the flies. Trunk comes down on slanting wire from front to rear of stage. The trunk is locked and corded and on being opened a second trunk is found within also locked and corded, in the second trunk is a third one also locked and corded, this is carried to footlights and on being opened the bride is discovered within. The second trunk on being removed from first is doubtless placed over the trap so that lady can enter the two via the bottoms while the second trunk is being opened. The ropes on the last two trunks need not necessarily pass under them. The lion was not reproduced, which rather disappointed me, as I was anxious to get another look at him, if not to pat him or shake hands--he troubled me somewhat. New Air Ship Illusion.--A beautiful model ,of an air ship, covered all over with various colored electric lights, is seen suspended in centre at rear of stage, quite close to special drop scene. Ropes from the ship attach to basket, which appears to be an imitation of a basket painted or fixed on a board, the bottom of the board touching the stage. Goldin appears in evening dress and proceeds to disguise himself by donning a long loose coat and slouch hat (I was not aware that aeronauts favoured such attire) then disappears momentarily behind 'basket,' rather altogether through trap in scene, while his double, hitherto concealed behind 'basket,' climbs into the ropes. A pistol is fired, down come the blind, while almost at the same moment Goldin rushes on at the wing and tearing off his disguise, speaks eloquently, though in dumb show, the words, "Here I am." The above lengthy programme is got through in something like 20
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minutes, which goes to prove, that, whatever conjurers as a body may think, the "Show" is unique of its kind. It is certainly the most costly conjuring "Show" I have ever known staged in this country. To equal it, without any attempt to surpass it, one must certainly work hard and spend much money. That the performer received the curtain nightly goes to show how much the "show" was appreciated by the audience, which after all is where, to the performer at any rate, the satisfaction lies.
Horace Goldin Palace Theatre, July 26, 1901 Published in Stanyon's Magic, October 1901 Goldin enters, in conventional evening attire, and without speaking (the entertainment is carried on throughout in dumb-show) proceeds to produce from a good sized neck-handkerchief, respectively a bowl of fire (ordinary small sized bowl) and a bouquet, (ordinary Sized folding feather bouquet). Next follows a few ordinary sleights with a small sized silk handkerchief which is eventually placed over the muzzle of a not over dangerous looking gun. Performer, by signs, indicates to audience that he is about to shoot the silk into their midst, it disappears, being drawn into barrel by a spring released by pulling the trigger--(no explosion) duplicate silk, ostensibly that fired from gun, is now taken from collar.
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Goldin next goes to a small, but firm, square table, on his right, covered small cloth and containing sundry articles as glass jug of water, tumblers, etc, etc. Taking hold of two corners of the cloth he, with a quick jerk, removes it bodily from table leaving articles undisturbed. This is merely an illustration of the property of inertia and may be accomplished with but little practice. To ensure success, however, observe to place any small articles i.e. articles with small bottoms, on trays not less than 8 in. square The next trick is that entitled New Vanishing Water, and described at length at page 4 of our "New Miscellaneous Tricks" the only exception being that a glass jug, instead of a china one, is employed. A couple of canaries are now removed from a cage and placed in a paper bag. The bag is suspended on a slender wire stand about 4 ft. high. Goldin standing a few paces from stand fires revolver at bag, Whereupon the birds are seen to reappear in cage held by assistant at a similar distance on opposite side of stand. The weak point of the trick is that the birds are never seen in the hand of performer, as a matter of fact they never leave the cage, but are pressed through a kind of trap bottom under cover of the forearm of assistant who is holding cage. Performer must rehearse to hold his hand and shape the bag in a manner to induce the belief that all is fair and above board. Assistant still holding cage has but to release trap when birds reappear. It may be found more convenient to have a second cage, duly loaded, for the reappearance of the birds. Here follows another example of the property of inertia. A small oblong tray is placed over four tumblers each partly filled with water, on the surface of the tray near the corners are placed four metal rings, one exactly over each of the tumblers. On each of the rings is placed an egg small end down. All ready, performer gives the edge of tray a smart blow with the flat of the hand sending it flying into the hands of assistant--the eggs fall, into each of the four tumblers:--This experiment forms a finale to a series of Juggling Tricks in throwing and catching the eggs (see explanatory programme on page 91, also our "New Juggling Tricks"). Vanishing Lamp. A Small lamp, about 15 in. high, fitted glass globe and chimney, is seen burning on small round top table, performer covers the lamp with a special cover leaving only about 1 in. of top part of glass chimney visible (cover rests on top of globe). In this condition the lamp is removed by assistant, and placed on seat of a tricky looking chair. Goldin holds a handkerchief in front of lamp for a few seconds, then, appearing dissatisfied with the arrangements, replaces the lamp still covered on table. A revolver is now fired at
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lamp which collapses on table, its prototype appearing simultaneously on small shelf in centre of an elegant frame, mounted on brass supports, and standing at rear of stage. The trick is spoiled by the necessity of removing the lamp from table to chair for the purpose of ringing the changes, this is accomplished under cover of the handkerchief and with the aid of a chair provided with a revolving back. The lamp replaced on the table is but an upright rod and a ring surmounted with a piece of talc, the pull of a thread causes the rod to fall into the hollow centre support of table, the ring failing flat on the table top. A second genuine lamp would be placed in readiness on small shelf at rear of revolving piece in centre of frame or if screens were placed in convenient positions, as is the case in the show under consideration, the lamp might be secretly removed by assistant from back of chairr to back of frame. Next in order follows the now familiar Fish Catching Trick--if the way these fish make their presence felt is anything to go by, they must be real indeed.
The conjuring and sleight of hand portion of this programme was given in our last issue. Respecting the trick in which figure several canaries, a cage, a paper bag etc., and which we endeavoured to explain, a reader informs us that the exact method employed is probably as follows:--One cage only is used and this contains several canaries (visible), also a duplicate set of birds concealed in a trap. In the mouth of the paper bag shown is gummed a smaller bag, perhaps incombustible, reaching about one third the length of the larger bag. The birds are actually removed from the cage and placed in the bag i.e., the small bag, in which they remain uninjured when the bottom of the larger bag is blown away by the explosion from pistol.
Fig. 1.
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Second Part of Programme--Illusions. Throughout the entire show the rear of the stage represents a garden wall with an opening in the centre (see fig. 1). This wall plays an important part in the following sketch. XX is a trap and AA a couple of metal arms about two feet long. On one side of the stage at C.T.C., are a table and two chairs. Behind the table at T, and out of the way for the moment, the disappearing cabinet, originated, we believe, in the illusion known as the Escape fram Sing Sing. In centre of stage a carpet with trap XX corresponding to trap in stage. Cabinet is attached to rope passing over pulley wheel in "flies" that it may be readily moved about stage with a little help at the "wings." Goldin enters, receives a letter, and is soon afterwards joined by a lady, both take seat at table and indulge freely in wine, eventually becoming excited. Goldin looks at watch and twirling it round at full length of chain, it flies back into his vest pocket. Lady dances and kicks tray held high in air by Goldin. This high kicking is made for the purpose of dispelling the idea that a "trick" skirt is used by the illusion which follows. A man appears at garden gate and startles the lovers, lady rushes off stage (for the purpose of changing the skirt she is wearing for the" trick" skirt), and Goldin pulls canopy into centre of carpet over trap. Lady rushes on stage and enters canopy, the curtains of which are lowered to leave the bottom half of the skirt visible. Rope lowered from "flies" is attached to top of canopy, which is now raised about a yard from the floor and swung to opposite side of stage (Fig. 1). (The time taken to attach the rope to canopy corresponds to the time required, by the lady to disappear through trap on stage, her egress being hidden by the still visible skirt she had attached to cords hanging from the top of the curtains.) Here, performer, having made use of a handkerchief, throws it up under curtain of canopy--it catches on a hook, but the supposition is that it is caught by lady. Curtains of canopy are lowered completely hiding skirt. Performer rushes over to garden wall, and standing in front of trap, holds up lady's opera cloak to hide himself. He really hangs cloak on the arms A A, and disappears through trap to change his attire to that of an inspector of police. Ordinary policeman enters, and raising curtains of canopy a trifle, sees the trick skirt, which he supposes (with the audience) to be the lady; he also looks behind cloak, and gives impression that his prisoner is there. Three more policemen enter, one an inspector (Goldin), and enact the
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same business. Now for the arrest. Cloak snatched away, Goldin has disappeared, canopy lowered, curtains dropped from the top, and with them the trick skirt--lady has disappeared. Lady appears in auditorium. Inspector of police removes his cap and bows to audience as Goldin. A Cage Illusion.--A tall cage sufficiently large to hold a person and to allow for the necessary movements is now placed in centre of carpet over trap. Cage stands on trick pedestal apparently isolating it from the floor. Goldin enters cage and pulls down curtains all round hiding himself from view. Party dressed as Mephisto, who has been roaming about stage, fastens down curtains to gain time, openly puts on masks, then goes behind screen at side of stage (change) for revolver. Mephisto rushes forward, fires revolver, curtains drop revealing a lady in cage. Mephisto throws off cloak and mask and bows to audience as Goldin. The programme is concluded a with another series of tricks, a rather unusual proceeding, as follows:Performer fashions, from a sheet of newspaper, a conical bag from which he produces a rabbit. A large bowl is next placed on table and covered with newspaper, paper is raised and a number of ducks put into bowl (apparently; trick table, &c.); bowl is now removed, from table, and placed on low stool and a quantity of water poured into it-water emptied out and ducks vanished. A duck is now seemingly wrapped in a large sheet of newspaper taken from back of chair--paper crumbled up and duck non est. Duck was dropped behind chair. A large wash-tub is next filled with water some dozen pailsful being required; attendant fires a pistol, and at the same time pulls a cord which releases a number of ducks, previously confined in tub, and which now jump out of the water and run about stage. The entertainment as a whole is novel and well carried out, and merits the applause it obtains.
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Horace Goldin Palace Theatre, May 1907 Published in Stanyon's Magic, June 1907 Curtain goes up and no less than five attendants, in uniform, are in readiness on the stage. The show is what is known as a "dumb" show, the tricks being presented-well, hardly in silence owing to the noise created by tons of apparatus in motion--but without any verbal accompaniment. Fire Bowl.--Performer comes on and taking cloth from an attendant produces bowl of fire from same. Water Bowl.--Large black cloth stretched between performer and one attendant, gathered up in hands to prove empty; "shape" suddenly appears under cloth and performer carries cloth over to table--cloth removed and large glass bowl of water, about 12 to 15 inches in diameter, seen on table. Fish Catching.--Several live gold fish appear in net (not unlike a landing net) waved about in the air. Fish tipped out of net into bowl of
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water above mentioned. Pistol and Sword.--Handkerchief hung over barrel of pistol given to attendant; performer goes to opposite side of stage and draws sword; attendant fires and handkerchief caught on sword. The Drum Trick.--See our "Original Explanatory Programmes" just published. Production of Live Ducks.--Small tub shown empty, placed on low hexagonal stand and covered newspaper-several live ducks appear in tub. Rice Bowls and Vanishing Glass of Water.--See my explanation of the trick in MAGIC for March, 1904. Growth of Flowers.--Instantaneous growth of flowers in empty pot stood in centre of. glass top table on slender nickel stem. Vanishing Lamp.--Attendant comes on with lamp on wooden tray; performer, standing behind tray, covers lamp with cloth (hole in centre of cloth for chimney), lifts lamp from tray, comes forward and lamp vanishes, cloth falling to floor, Attendant retires with tray. Trick of Inertia.--With four eggs on tray over four glasses. See our No, 16 serial. Bridal Chamber Illusion.--Large four-posted canopy raised from floor on four short feet. Right hand end blind drawn down, then back blind, then blind down at opposite end, and lastly front blind down. Box steps used to enable attendant to reach to pull down blinds. Attendant, pulling down front blind, left inside canopy. Pistol and front blind goes up and canopy found Set as bridal chamber with lady in bed. Performer gets into canopy and makes several smaller tricks, including two red handkerchiefs (tied together) change to two blue ones; also watch hung on end of barrel of pistol vanishes when pistol is fired. Pistol wakes lady, who gets up, throws sundry garments aside, dresses, with the help of the performer, and both get out of canopy. Both make merry at table, take wine, wine changes to confetti, and production of bouquet. Lady dances with tray. Salvationists (man and woman with drum) cross stage. Weighing Machine Illusion.--Lady disappears from pair of scales and performer from screen at rear. Woman Salvationist returns, uncovers,
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and proves to be lady; photographer uncovers and proves to be performer. Growth of Flowers in Pots on Table.---Collapsible Table. Made to close up quickly to be carried off as a box, size of a 24 inch hand bag. Aga Illusion.--Effect as described in Magic, November 1904. Glass front of box falls down, bouquet handed to lady, back bar removed, and hoop passed over once only, i.e., attendant holding hoop at the outset probably puts it over gear before connection is made. Performer using large magnet for effect. Cannon and Triple Box Illusion.--See our No. 16 serial. Two new canopy illusions, effect of which we are unable to describe in this issue for want of space, concluding with production of rabbit from conical Paper bag; duck pail; vanish of rabbit in paper at chair, and production of four ducks out of large tub, into which pails of water had been poured. Probably the biggest and most expensive magic show yet staged.
The Chang Archives Review of
"Un Viaje al Infierno" (A Trip to Hades)
Details of Chang's N°1 Show, "Un Viaje al Infierno" (A Trip to Hades) as given in Teatro Calderón, Barcelona, Spain, 1948. Freely translated from notes kindly provided by Mr. Angel Bellsolá Rey of Girona, Spain, to whom I am most grateful.
~ First Part ~ 1. Overture. House dark. Orchestra plays. 2. The Infernal Caves. The curtain opens and the ballet dances dressed as
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devils. Costumes glow in "Black Light" (Ultra Violet Light). Suddenly a big devil mask appears center stage. There is a smoke flash and Chang appears magically. A spotlight picks him and the dancers leave the stage. Chang walks downstage towards the audience while a backdrop falls and all stage lights go full up. Chang talks to the audience and the show is on.
A posed photograph of Chang's "The Infernal Caves" opening.
3. The Fishbowls Jar. The double cylider trick often called "Kuma Tubes" where two cylinders are shown empty and passed one through the other and a production of silks and fishbowls follow. At the end a big jar is produced from which water is poured. Finally, Chang shows that the big jar is bigger than the cylinders from which it came and it cannot be put back in. 4. The Chinese Lamp. A square chinese box about 10x10x10 inches is shown empty and a big silk production is made. The silks are piled on the floor and finally,from the silks, a big Chinese Lamp is produced. The lamp is fully lighted. 5. Alladin's Jewels. A series of effects using rings and other jewels from the audience. At the end they appear in a nest of three boxes. 6. Tea from China. The Coffee and Milk Trick (two metal tumblers filled with confetti. The confetti magically changes into coffee and milk) plus other effects. 7. It can't be Done Faster. A series of productions and vanishes using bowls, liquids and various other articles. 8. Where did it go? Vanish of a lady in a hanging cage and her
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reappearance inside a glass tank filled with water which is in center stage.
Reappearance of the lady in the water tank
9. Paper Metamorphosis. The Egg in Fan trick. 10. From a Little House to the Mirror of Illusion. Doll's House Illusion. In the presentation Chang places a small doll inside the empty house and it turns into a real ballerina which comes out dancing, stands before a mirror and segues into the next dance number with the whole ballet. 11. The Fan Dance. Dance by the whole ballet where the girls open and close fans which change colors several times. (Color Changing Fans.) 12. Where did They Come From? Production of a huge bowl of water, Chinese style, complete with ducks swimming in the water. Then the Aerial Doves. (Catching doves with net.) 13. Where did They Go? Vanish of the doves in a breakaway box using the gag where some feathers are seen under the table and they finally prove to be a feather duster. Chang is almost alone on stage and throws all the pieces off stage to unseen assistants. 14. Walking on the Avenue. A girl with a parasol comes on stage. She also has a handbag. There is a short dialog with Chang and then he presents the Parasol Trick.
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Chang performs the Parasol Trick
15. Behind the Scenes. The backdrop represents the front of the stage with an audience painted on it. Two of these painted spectators applaud (assistants who pass their arms through holes on the scenery). There is a production box center stage. A girl is hiding "behind" it, that is, in full view of the real audience. She enters the box through a door on the side but then another different person comes out of the box. 16. The Clown that Lost his Memory. A comedy dialog with a clown to introduce a juggler. 17. The Technicolor Circus. Chinese juggling with yo-yos (by a Chinese juggler, not by Chang). 18. The Hindu Rope. Tarbell Cut and Restored Rope Trick. 19. Lemon, Canary and Egg. Vanish of a canary in a paper bag and it reappears inside an egg which is inside a lemon. 20. A Cabaret in New York. Dance by the ballet to introduce the next trick. 21. Chang's Magic Cocktail Shaker. Any drink called for is magically produced from a chrome plated cocktail shaker. Many assistants with trays and glasses. Very well performed with a lot of details in the choosing of the drinks (beer: lager? stout?; milk: hot? cold?). He never lets go of the shaker. 22. Television. The card between glass plates, jumbo version. TV wasn't yet implanted and this gave Chang his patter theme about the possibility of transmitting the image of a chosen jumbo card.
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23. The Palace of Fu Yung Cha. Dance number by the ballet including several tricks like The Levitation.
* Chang performs the levitation
24. The Dream of the Prince. Dance by the ballet. 25. The Oldest Trick in Magic, but will you see? The Chinese Linking Rings with a superb presentation ending with all the rings clanging to the floor. 26. The Skeleton Rumba Dance. Chang comes on stage, in one. He's wearing a stethoscope and announces that he is going to present a macabre dance by skeletons and flying nebulas and that persons that are especially sensible can leave the the auditorium if they want but that normally there is no accident because all measures have been taken. Lights go off and luminous skeletons begin to appear and they walk through the audience while strange luminous forms fly overhead. At the end, lights come on and the stage is bare. Chang comes out to announce the end of the first part of the show and says he is happy he didn't have to use the stethoscope.
~ Second Part ~
27. Canaries Everywhere. Production and vanish of cages with canaries. 28. A Canary for a Lady. Chang walks towards a lady spectator to give her a
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cage with a canary and it visibly turns into a flower. 29. The Modern Mata-Hari. Shooting a Ribbon Through a Girl. 30. Chinese Music. Vanishing Radio. 31. Wong Mow Ting. Chinese Juggler using two sticks. 32. Time Flies. Six alarm clocks placed on a board. They are made to ring and vanish one by one as Chang picks them and makes the motion of magically throwing them to the other side of the stage where they magically appear one by one hanging on cords from a frame. 33. Chang, the Jeweller. The Nest of Boxes but using baskets. Several pieces of jewelry from the audience are wrapped in a handkerchief (which is then exchanged for a similar parcel in a Change Bag). The handkerchief is opened and just confetti comes out. 34. In the Ruins of Ancient Greece. A dance by the ballet wearing classic Greek costumes. The have silk scarves and Chang presents the Sympathetic Silks. 35. Marno Brothers. Circus act. 36. The Theft of the White Jade. A glass disk with a hole in the center is placed inside a holder with a nickel-plated base and a ribbon is passed through it. The ends of the ribbon are held by two assistants so it's impossible to take the glass disk out. Chang announces that he is going to show the audience how to magically make it penetrate the ribbon. Suddenly two spectators (man and woman) begin to argue in a box near the stage. As everybody looks up, Chang extracts the disk from the ribbon magically so when the audience again looks at him, he has it in his hand and says "And that's how you take the disk out of the ribbon," and then something about paying attention in magic and misdirection. 37. A Lesson in Fooling. The Torn and Restored Strip of Paper with sucker explanation. 38. A Surprise for Chang. The Topsy Turvy Bottles Trick. Asks for somebody from the audience to come on stage to learn a trick. A little boy comes up (stooge) and Chang has him stand behind a tripod stand in which there is a bottle and a tube. Chang stands behind a similar stand with another bottle and tube. Chang covers the bottle and asks the kid to do the same as him and turns the tube with the bottle upside down several times. At the end Chang's bottle is always right-side up while the kid's is upside down. Finally, in a moment in which Chang is not looking, the kid
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turns his bottle around... but at the end, it's still upside down. 39. Scherezade, a Tale from the Thousand and One Nights. Dance by the ballet. 40. Magical Scenification of the Great Ballet, produced and conceived by Chang with the assistance of the whole company. Grand Finale with music and dancing combining several big illusions (Cremation, Production of two men from an empty box) with small tricks (production of flower bouquets, Cut and Restored Turban). The scene begins by showing a trunk, rigging it and raising it so it hangs over the stage during the whole number. At the end the trunk is lowered on stage and from it a second trunk is taken and from it comes the girl that was just cremated. There is a grand scene with more music and dance and some final words by Chang. (Actually this last scene had a plot line justifying all the tricks.)
The Chang Archives Review of
"El Segundo Viaje al Infierno" (The Second Trip to Hades)
Details of Chang's N°2 Show, "El Segundo Viaje al Infierno" (The Second Trip to Hades) as given in Teatro Calderón, Barcelona, Spain, 1948. Freely translated from notes kindly provided by Mr. Angel Bellsolá Rey of Girona, Spain, to whom
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I am most grateful.
~ First Part ~ 1. Devils. This is the same opening number used in Chang's first show. (The curtain opens and the ballet dances dressed as devils. Costumes glow in "Black Light" (Ultra Violet Light). Suddenly a big devil mask appears center stage. There is a smoke flash and Chang appears magically. A spotlight picks him and the dancers leave the stage. Chang walks downstage towards the audience while a backdrop falls and all stage lights go full up. Chang talks to the audience and the show is on.)
Chang repeated the "Infernal Caves" opening from his main show.
2. The Inexhaustible Tube. Production of silk handkerchiefs from a big Genii Tube (same as the Phantom Tube, only it split opens in half lenghtwise to show empty). After the production Chang performs The Sympathetic Silks. 3. Something to Eat. The Rice Bowls Trick followed by The Growing Orange Bush: Chang shows an orange bush bare of fruit and then oranges begin to grow on the branches which he cuts and throws into the audience. A very effective apparatus trick. 4. Rapid Flight. Two ducks vanished in a break-apart box. 5. Shangai Dye Store. The trick of dyeing silk handkerchiefs by passing them through a paper tube, here combined with the dance movements of the ballet. 6. A Feast in Brazil. Production of a girl from a Tip-Over Trunk, followed
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by a Samba dance by the ballet. 7. A Clumsy Jeweler. Chang borrows a ring and saying it has a minor flaw, pretends to fix it with a hammer. Then he performs the old omelette in Dove Pan in which a dove appears with a ribbon tied to its neck and tied to the ribbon is the restored ring. 8. The Magic Canary. Mr. Bellsolá doesn't remember what this trick was. He says it was probably a combination of effects linked to the last trick. 9. The Latest News. An actor comes onstage reading a newspaper. Chang has a funny dialogue with him and finally performs the Torn and Restored Newspaper. 10. Mexican Dance. Dance by the ballet. 11. Something to Drink Comedy sketch including the Egg in Hat trick. 12. Solid by Solid Mr. Bellsolá doesn't remember this trick. 13. Coffee, Coffee. Chang stuffs some silk handkerchiefs inside a coffee pot from which he then pours hot coffee for a spectector he has on stage. 14. Hindu Dance. Dance by the ballet. 15. The Marvellous Egg. The Broken and Restored Egg trick performed inone. 16. The Skeleton Rumba Dance. Same presentation as in first show. (Chang comes on stage, in one. He's wearing a stethoscope and announces that he is going to present a macabre dance by skeletons and flying nebulas and that persons that are especially sensible can leave the the auditorium if they want but that normally there is no accident because all measures have been taken. Lights go off and luminous skeletons begin to appear and they walk through the audience while strange luminous forms fly overhead. At the end, lights come on and the stage is bare. Chang comes out to announce the end of the first part of the show and says he is happy he didn't have to use the stethoscope.)
~ Second Part ~
17. The Great Comedy Bull-Fight in Technicolor. Dance by the ballet under ultra-violet lights.
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18. Wine and Water. Chemical trick of pouring water into glasses and having it turn into wine and back to water again. 19. Music, Maestro. The Vanishing Radio. 20. Wong. Chinese Juggler using two sticks and a third one between them. 21. The Guillotine. The head-chopper trick. 22. Barrel Beer. The Beer Barrel Trick in which many beer glasses are filled from an empty casket. The beer is passed to the audience. 23. The Cards. The Rising Cards Trick, using giant cards and many funny gags. 24. The Ball and Magnetism. An excellent presentation by Chang of the Floating Ball Trick. 25. The Invisible Mysteries. A black-light (ultra-violet) number combining a dance by the ballet with mysterious movements of several objects and the introduction of other pseudo-spiritualistic effects. 26. A Meeting of the Spirits. Continuation of the above, introducing the Spirit Floating Table. 27. Marno Brothers. The same circus act as presented in Chang's first show. 28. Well Tied. The Thumb Tie Trick. 29. The Little Paper. Mr. Bellsolá doesn't remember this trick. 30. Scherezade and the Sultan. The same magical presentation used in the first show. (Magical Scenification of the Great Ballet, produced and conceived by Chang with the assistance of the whole company. Grand Finale with music and dancing combining several big illusions (Cremation, Production of two men from an empty box) with small tricks (production of flower bouquets, Cut and Restored Turban). The scene begins by showing a trunk, rigging it and raising it so it hangs over the stage during the whole number. At the end the trunk is lowered on stage and from it a second trunk is taken and from it comes the girl that was just cremated. There is a grand scene with more music and dance and some final words by Chang. (Actually this last scene had a plot line justifying all the tricks.)) Note: Chang performed many magical effects in his show and usually he didn't follow the printed program. These notes were written from memory by Mr. Bellsolá in 1997, almost 30 years after he saw the Chang Show in Barcelona,
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Spain so, even though they give us an idea of the sequence of tricks in Chang's marvellous spectacle, these notes are not complete. For example, Mr. Bellsolá remembers Chang performed the Aerial Fishing Trick in the second part but he doesn't remember exactly where because this trick was not listed in the printed program.
Ching Ling Foo. Chinese Conjurer. From Stanyon's Magic, March, 1905 Curtain goes up and we find the performer, with no less than ten assistants, already on the stage. All are standing to attention, and all are prettily dressed in native attire. Most of the assistants are performers for that matter, and several take their "turn," an excellent ruse for covering up the time taken by chief performer in his preparations for several tricks. Production of plate of oranges. All leave stage with exception of performer and one assistant. Performer shakes out an Oriental cloth as large as a small counterpane and shows it both sides--he is attired in the flowing robes of his country. Both performer and assistant next get well under the cloth and after some fumbling about produce a dinner plate piled up full of oranges. All things considered I think that is sufficient explanation; I really could not tell from whose person the plate was produced for reasons above stated. The apparatus for the above trick could be readily constructed with
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the aid of the rubber imitation oranges, glued or otherwise, fixed on to an ordinary china soup-plate, and one loose ordinary orange to lay on the top of pile to give the impression all loose. The assistant having his arm and shoulder entirely under cloth may place this loose orange in position. With the aid of another cloth, equally large, and a reversal of the above proceedings the plate of oranges is caused to disappear; the plate is once more produced from this cloth, followed by a large china basin full of water, a la Fish Bowl production, only basin perhaps ten inches across top and shape of a pudding basin. Performer leaves stage. Juggling. Another of the company comes on and spins a small basin (size of the rice bowls) upside clown on end of stick, i.e., stick is inside basin. The momentum is obtained by performer hitting side of basin with his fingers. Basin is thrown from stick in left hand to stick in right hand. Basin is next thrown very high in the air and caught on stick; thrown under leg and caught on same stick. When spinning on stick in left hand, stick is passed behind back and basin thrown across to stick in right hand. Back to stick in left hand. The prettiest effect is where performer throws basin from stick, hits it on side and catches it on same stick; this is done quickly and repeated, basin ringing like a bell. This basin, doubtless, has prepared conical centre inside. Same performer next does some very clever throwing and catching of a very large and heavy flower bowl, finally throwing bowl and catching it on his forehead, where he causes it to alter its position and to spin round by a simple movement of the head. Should think bowl weighs between eight and ten pounds. Two little girls next do some clever spinning with small saucers (tea saucers) on end of sticks. Stick on outside (bottom) of saucers. Saucers are wobbling all the time, never centred on stick. The one child next takes the stick from her companion, with her disengaged hand and keeps both saucers wobbling, this is a very clever feat as any juggler knows who has tried to pass a plate, wobbling on stick from his right to his left hand, and keep it going without a fall. But this is not all, the child crosses her arms, kneels down, turns head over heels, and gets up again, the two saucers still wobbling merrily on the top of their respective sticks. A child acrobat next appears and does some very funny and original business. The greatest fun is produced with the aid of a dummy head (good imitation of her own) which is attached to the bottom of her back. When she is walking on her hands, for instance, her skirts fall and hide her own head, exposing dummy at same time, while the actions of her legs are as arms. Some excruciatingly funny poses on a chair are obtained with the aid of this dummy head.
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Another little girl next sings, most prettily, two old time songs "Because I love you" and "Just one Girl," for which she receives much and well deserved applause. Man acrobat next appears, made up as a Chinese Gollywog, (if you know what that is) and does some very clever bending and balancing on bench and chair. Ching Ling Foo appears next and with the aid of a counterpane and his assistant, on lines as before, produces a very large china basin (pattern of a wash hand basin only much larger) full of water. A card is displayed marked 85 lbs. in big letters, weight of bowl and water I suppose. Performer leaves stage and several assistants, with small ladles, ladle water out of basin, slowly for effect, into pails--there is water sufficient to fill 4 or 5 pails, anyway, of the kind used. Our readers are doubtless familiar with the method of suspending such a basin, full of water, behind the body from a waistbelt: the basin to hang down low so that when performer stoops it comes to rest on the floor and he has only to take a step backwards to bring it under cloth. The weight removed, when basin touches floor, should suffice to disengage it from its support--cover, retaining water in basin removed under cover of cloth. Performer again appears and after patting himself all over, in dumb show proving nothing concealed on person, prepares to conjure again. He understands however that audience are not satisfied, so divests himself of several tunics, and is about to remove, what I suppose is shirt and trousers to a Chinaman, when he thinks better of it and gets to work as he is. Showing cloth empty he suddenly turns head over heels and, immediately on rising, takes a very large bowl, full of water and gold fish, from the cloth. I am of opinion, however, that he had removed the bowl from inside his shirt (I apologise if I have incorrectly named the garment) and into the cloth before the somersault was made. This trick was cleverly performed. Ching again appears and spins a top, which hums very loud making a terrible noise as it increases speed, on a cord suspended between two sticks held one in each hand The top is really made in the form of an axle tree with a hollow box or top, of equal weight, at each end. It is not difficult to manipulate and some interesting movements can be made; top running up cord, jumping over foot placed on centre of cord, &c., &e. I have, one of these tops on the table as I,write, but regret have not had time to get it illustrated here, in this issue, as I had intended. There is not much Conjuring in this programme, but it is nevertheless very interesting, amusing and clever.
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The embroidery in stage setting and hangings was superb.
Around the World with the Great Nicola By Charles Vance and The Roberts Charles Vance and Eddie and Lucille Roberts traveled with Nicola for sixteen months. They toured many well-known countries, and also tramped into many remote regions. They played modern metropolitan areas, and visited exotic lands whose fabulous histories are steeped in legendary antiquity. Their memories are stored with a number of thrilling and exciting adventures, as well as many fascinating and amusing experiences.
44 We have been asked to pen our impressions of Nicola after our close association with him, and to tell how he appears to us as a traveling companion, as a boss, and as a showman. We'll take them up in that order. We had been warned by Nicola not to consider joining his company if we entertained any thoughts of its being a "Cook's Tour." There would be plenty of hard work, we had been advised, and unless we could absorb that in large quantities, we were certainly looking for the wrong job. Traveling with Nicola around the world is especially interesting because of his great wealth of information concerning each place visited, and because of his vast store of fascinating experiences culled from the memory of former tours. Mrs. Nicola and The Great Nicola
No mention of Nicola as a traveling companion would be complete without our personal tribute to his qualities as a man. It is one thing to admire a man for his showmanship on the stage; it is quite another thing to respect him as a personality off the stage. We sincerely respect Nicola as a friend whose admirable traits of character are an inspiration to those who work with him. We admire his sincerity, honesty and fairness in all his dealings. As pleasant as it was traveling with Nicola the guide, it was of course necessary that we never lose sight of the primary purpose of the trip--our responsibilities in connection with the show. In this regard we come to Nicola the boss. The Nicola show, crated, consisted of over fifty tons of equipment. It required two long baggage cars to accommodate the equipment, and each of these was loaded to the roof. Upon stages which were adequate to set up the entire production, 54 sets of lines were required to fly the large number of draperies, curtains and various other illusion and scenery effects. In many theatres additional lines had to be added, and unless the back stage room was unusually ample, it was not infrequent that we had to move the crates down stairs or even out of the theatre after unpacking them, in order to have sufficient room for all the illusions. As one might judge, it was no small undertaking to set-up a show of this magnitude and complexity. There could be no compromise with efficiency or such a production could never have operated successfully. When Nicola the boss walked through the door of the theatre, Nicola the traveling companion remained outside. There is a quiet dignity about Nicola the boss which commands respect. The term "boss" is not quite correct, as we always felt we were working with him, rather than merely for him. It was more as though he was the captain of a team, a team which had a difficult job
45 to perform and of which he confidently expected perfect co-operation to achieve our common objective. This air of dignity and quiet confidence earned our devotion to the task before us. Nicola is exacting and a stickler for detail. Laxity could not be tolerated. Without these qualities his huge, elaborate show could never have operated at the amazing speed which was marveled at by every newspaper reviewer. The success of the Nicola organization can be stated in one word--Precision. We were never allowed to forget that perfection was our eternal goal, and that we were expected to achieve it at every performance. Nicola inspired his team, as every good captain should, by setting the example of what was expected of them. Every theatre and every stage presented different problems. He was always on hand to see that these problems were solved in the most efficient manner possible Each individual in the show had his own list of duties to perform, illusions to help prepare, and properties to set. These each of us was to carry out without any checking from Nicola; and the responsibility for every detail was solely ours. It took a full day, working at top speed, to set up the entire show. Sometimes, in the smaller theatres of small towns, the amount of stage space would not permit us to use some of the more elaborate illusions, and the time required would be less. Whatever the situation, Nicola was always on hand, checking the many details that did not fall to any of us in particular. Now he would be in the orchestra, now in the gallery, again he would pop up in the boxes, or perhaps in the wings--analyzing and checking every conceivable angle of many things we are not at liberty to divulge. We feel that a word should be said at this point about Mrs. Nicola. Marion has been Nicola's leading lady on several tours, and it is not detracting one bit from the credit due Nicola to say that a great deal of the success of his show is accounted for by the presence of his charming wife. Marion was a constant source of inspiration to all of us because of her almost unbelievable efficiency in handling and preparing an enormous number of small properties, and we found ourselves constantly endeavoring to emulate her excellent example. It seemed impossible for any one person to handle the responsibilities which Marion cheerfully shouldered, and it was his confidence in her and the realization that she always had everything under control which permitted Nicola to avoid any worry about the situation backstage and to concentrate his efforts exclusively to the showmanship of his presentation. In all parts of the world her hosts of friends rival in number those of Nicola. She has been the toast of Princes and Potentates Sultans and Maharajas. No woman in the field of magic can approach Marion's extensive knowledge of the art of magic and the principles of showmanship-and there are relatively few magicians even among the men who can top her in this category, for that matter. For this reason, as well as for her gracious personality, her beauty, and her charm of manner, we sincerely believe Marion Nicola merits the distinction of being the First Lady of Magic.
46 In discussing Nicola as a showman it is probably best that we "look at the record." Since our owl, personal opinions might conceivably be a bit partisan because of our great regard for Nicola, we're willing to leave the verdict to the impartial record as found in the cold black type of the newspaper reviewer, and in the irrefutable evidence of box office statistics.
Nicola with the late Ching Ling Foo in the latter's carriage in front of the Fun Ming Theater in Tientsin, China
Everywhere he went Nicola broke box-office records of long standing. Time and again the S.R.O. sign was out in front of the theatre long before curtain time. It seemed funny to us, when leaving the theatre in late afternoon after the matinee, to see the queue already forming for the evening performance! Only the earliest comers stood a chance of gaining admittance to the relatively small section of unreserved seats. In several cities the management ran, in the advertisement columns of the newspapers, a public apology for his inability to seat all of the people who sought to gain admission to his theatre! In one area of about a million inhabitants, where we encountered the stiffest kind of competition in many other fields of entertainment, the Nicola Show played for twenty consecutive weeks. Five months! This would be the equivalent of a forty month season in New York, where there are eight times as many people or a run lasting over three years! This makes an interesting comparison with the maximum runs other magicians have had in New York. Everywhere the show merited newspaper reviews which frequently ran one or more columns in length. Through all of these the same theme was apparent--one of enthusiastic bewilderment. These reviewers, as exacting in every respect as the New York and London critics whom they emulate, and accustomed as they are to seeing only the finest purveyors of the mystical art, thumbed desperately through their mental dictionaries for words to express their reactions.
47 We come now to a review of the extravaganza which ran for nearly three hours, operating with a speed and precision which was the result of years of planning and preparation. As the last notes of the overture die away, a fanfare from the orchestra builds to a crashing climax--and the Great Nicola steps through the curtains. Briefly, he introduces his gorgeous "Revue of Magic of the Universe," in which he will impersonate some of the famous conjurers he has met on his tours around the world. First, he announces, he will take his audience with him to the Emperor's Royal Court in Pekin, China, and impersonate an eminent Chinese wizard. Nicola had appeared in full evening dress and cape for his introductory remarks. He steps momentarily into the Wings, the dazzling silver curtains open, the orchestra has struck up a Chinese medley, and Nicola steps immediately onto the stage, clothed in the costume of the Chinese necromancer. The scene which greets the audience is truly one of Oriental splendor. All of the scenery, including the borders and leg curtains, are of the finest embroidered Chinese design and material. All the assistants who appear on the stage in this scene are likewise clad in luxurious Oriental garb. And the illusions blend unmistakably into the Chinese setting, having been designed to do just that. In rapid succession Nicola performs "The Elastic Lady," "Aerial Fishing," "The Chinese Water Jar," and the "Dream of the Chinese Chop Suey Restaurant Keeper"--this latter being a bewildering series of related effects which bring the scene to a startling climax, and as Nicola steps to the footlights the silver trailer closes in behind him as the audience before him invariably pays thunderous tribute. The show has started rapidly--but the pace increases. Announcing that he now proposes to take his spectators to India, Nicola again steps momentarily into the wings, the silver curtains part, and Nicola steps back on the stage. He is now dressed as a Hindu Fakir, the orchestra is contributing Indian music--but most startling of all, the entire stage setting has been changed from China to India. The closein had been but a matter of seconds, yet the Royal Court of China has been transformed into a street scene in Hyderabad, India. Again, all of the curtains blend into the Indian scene, and all the costumes are likewise Indian. Nicola's own version of the famous "Indian Basket Trick" opens this scene. Introducing several new principles, Nicola has made it a new trick entirely, in everything except name. "The Indestructable Turban" follows, and the scene closes with the "Levitation of the Princess of Karachi." After the inexplicable disappearance of the Princess into mid-air, the curtains once more whip together for an instant as Nicola, at the footlights, turns the Magic Carpet in the direction of Egypt. In the twinkling of any eye the curtains part, and Nicola is back on the stage almost simultaneously-this time in the native dress of the Royal Egyptian Sorcerer. The entire stage has again changed, and this time the scene is laid in the interior of an
48 Egyptian temple. All the costumes are Egyptian, as is the music, and of course so are the illusions. "The Priest, the Mysterious Shawls and the Beautiful Maidens," is a lightninglike series of transformation effects, and this is followed by the "Egyptian Mummy Mystery," a somber and weird ritual with an unusual twist. For the fourth time the scene changes almost instantly, as do all the settings, costumes and the music. This time Nicola appears as a burlesque magician from the Argentine. A series of small feats all have a comedy twist, interjecting the lighter vein to relieve the array of miracles which have paraded so rapidly before the eyes of the audience. Into this series of Hobo Hocum rabbits and ducks appear and disappear, gravitation is defied, and the Wonder Screen produces a huge semi mechanical pig eight feet in height, which promptly goes into a dance and brings down the house. As a climax to the act Nicola, by way of explanation to show how his costume changes are effected, appears as, three different people in three different parts of the stage at almost one and the same time and he turns up at the finish at the place he would least likely be expected, a situation which brings the biggest laugh of the entire show. This concludes the review of magic, and by this time the audience is a little breathless in trying to keep pace with the rapidity of the extravaganza. The brilliant settings, contrast of costumes and subtle blending of illusions has provided the first act which literally overwhelms the audience. But this is only a start. A specialty follows in which the antics of a comedian divert the attention of the audience sufficiently so as to bring them back with brains relatively cleared for the second act. This can be described more briefly because it is Nicola's presentation of American magic. Again the audience is treated to a change of scene each time the curtains open, and all of these scenic effects are different from those they saw in the first act. It is not necessary to go into these in detail. Each scene also finds all the girls in different costumes. Nicola is first produced magically in his "A-B-C Blocks" illusion which is followed by an unique comedy mystery, "The Vanishing Chocolates." The "Pillory Escape," a rice effect, and the billiard balls precede one of Nicola's newest and greatest achievements-"Masterpieces." In this unusual and magnificent illusion, which fills the entire stage with one of the most beautiful scenes in the whole show, the illusion evolves around sixteen large scale reproductions of famous paintings by the old masters. At the finish of the series of bewildering changes, one of the paintings designated by the audience comes to life right before the eyes of the spectators. In our humble. opinion this is -one of the finest and most beautiful illusions ever invented. "My Lady's Birthday Presents," the "Traveling Salesman and the Farmer's Daughter," "Furnishing a Flat," and the "Rising Cards" brings us up to the feature of the closing illusion of the second act. This Is the famous "Prison Escape Mystery" which has long been one of Nicola's most baffling illusions, not only for laymen but for magicians also. The setting is the reproduction of a real prison, with three cells, (all elevated from the floor, of course) occupying the entire stage. Introducing the "Invisible Cloak" Nicola
49 twice performs before the very eyes of the audience a miracle which approaches the absolute limit of magical ingenuity and effectiveness. An interval follows the Prison Escape, and to begin the final portion of the performance Miss Lucille Roberts demonstrates her remarkable mind-reading powers in a featured specialty act. This is followed by Nicola's elaborate "Wizard's Dream." In this sequence, which opens upon yet another unique stage setting, Nicola explains how he fell asleep one evening while working in his studio and dreamed of several great mysteries which had been thought by magicians impossible to perform. The "Dream" is reproduced in its entirety, complete with the performance of the "impossibilities." Because of its unusual conception and its dramatic development, the "Wizard's Dream" was especially praised by newspapers everywhere it was performed. Next came the "Eggs from the Hat," and this was followed by Nicola's 20th Century version of "Noah's Ark." At this point Nicola takes the audience behind the scenes and demonstrates just how it is done-but of course the ending works out differently than any one had imagined. Nicola's version of the "Chinese Rings" followed and was always well received. A "Spirit Cabinet," with Manifestations and materialization of spirits, provides good background for both mystery and comedy, and this is followed by the "Borrowed Rings." "The Indian Rope Trick" is the feature which fills the next part of the program. It is difficult to describe the effect this amazing feat has upon the audience. In Nicola's version, the "Wizard" throws the rope into the air and it remains suspended. The boy climbs the rope almost to the top but not quite. Both rope and boy are out in the middle of the stage, away from all curtains, and the top of the rope is in plain view. At no time is there any covering of any sort. And there is no flash of flame or smoke. At the command of the "Wizard," the boy disappears and the rope, always completely in view, falls to the ground. That is exactly the way it looks to the audience nothing more and nothing less. It embodies several principles never before used by magicians. As one of the large metropolitan newspaper reviewers exclaimed, "It is an illusion which in all its elements has never been equalled on the stage in this country." After a giant "Three-card Monte" effect Nicola nears the end of his performance by presenting his unique "Seeing through a Woman." Although this effect has -- been attempted by some other stage magicians, Nicola is still the only magician who allows a legitimate committee from the audience to come up on the stage and sit behind the sentry box before the young lady is mutilated. When the vicious blades have been thrust through her neck and thighs, the doors are opened to show her head and feet but the middle section of her anatomy has disappeared. The back of this middle section is completely removed, and the committee is asked to "look right through the young woman" from the back. The young lady's torso is recovered and returned to her at the conclusion so that the committee returns to the audience relieved, but just as bewildered as those out front.
50 The "Human Pincushion," or "Iron Maiden," is presented just before the closing number. Here is another exclusive Nicola miracle which has been victimized by various copyists, but no one has as yet successfully duplicated the Nicola version. It is by far the most effective and convincing spike illusion, and the various original features of its presentation render it a classic of magic in every aspect. The performance is brought to a conclusion by Nicola's inimitable "Substitution Trunk Mystery." It has been many years since Nicola first became associated with this illusion when, as a small boy, he assisted his father in performing it. Since those early days many magicians have used the substitution effect in one form or another. Yet our humble opinion is that you've -- never seen this transposition done until you've seen Nicola do it. Now that it's all over we can say that not only did the tour come up to what we had hoped it would be, but that it actually surpassed our fondest expectations--and that's saying something! It is naturally a disappointment that The Great Nicola's tour could not have ended as he had wished it. Originally, the plans had been for the world tour to be climaxed by a triumphal swing through the United States. And a fitting climax it would have been, too. For The Great Nicola--the man who has set box-office records all over the world, the man who has had more command performances before kings, queens, emperors, maharajas and sultans, than any other performer on earth, the man whose name is, in 58 countries, synonymous with magic and all things mysterious--this quiet and unassuming standard bearer of fine magic wanted nothing more than to conclude his greatest tour before his fellow-countrymen in his native land.
Carter the Great early full-evening show At an early time in his career Charles Carter wrote down the sequence of his full-evening show including the patter he used. This was done as an attempt to legally protect his material because the complete scritp of the show could be
51 registered as a stage play and its authorship credited to Carter. In this way he had a copyright on his patter and sequence of tricks and could, in theory at least, stop any magician from copying his patter and show. I don't know if this scheme worked or stopped anybody from copying from Carter's show, or if anybody attempted to copy, in the first place, but because of the existence of this script (now in the public domain) we can have an idea of Carter's performance. The first part of the script is a synopsis of the complete show and after that Carter describes the complete sequence in more detail, even including his patter.
ACT I Scene I Modern Miracles Introducing a series of weird and fascinating digital manipulations and original conjuring conceits in pace with the latest discoveries and innovations of science, unparalleled in this or any other time. Tableau 1. Rapid Transit. Tableau 2. Enchanted Cone and Orange. Tableau 3. Characteristic Shuffles. Tableau 4. Aerial Cards. Tableau 5. Metamorphosis. Tableau 6. Astral Hand.
Scene II Tableau 1. Carter's masterpiece - The latest word in Illusion building. Levitation. Miss Evelyn Maxwell - A student in hypnotism. The most astute, bewildering, and hazardous illusion and without any question, the ne plus ultra de l'art magique. Original, new and novel in principle and confounding alike the minds of scientists and philosophers. A dream in midair of a dainty princess, surpassing in effect the reputed marvels of the ancient Egyptian sorcerers, and rendering insignificant by comparison, a description of the fables in A Thousand and One Nights. The idea for levitation germinated in India (crude imitations of which have been shown before) carries one back, in fancy, to the banks of the sacred Ganges, where in Benares, Mr. Carter mingled with the high caste and faithful fakirs who spend their lives in deep study, peering into space and concentrating, garbed only in sackcloth and ashes. After patient research and profound study, the subtle magical achievement has been evolved. Its perfection represents fifteen years of abstruse thought and diligent experimenting and
52 as a result, levitation remains the fin du siècle miracle and the crowning creation of Mr. Carter's long and brilliant career. Tableau 2. A conjuring effect from Luxor. Tableau 3. The Inexhaustible Bottle. The closer you watch, the less you see.
Scene III The Magical Divorce - which is literally and metaphorically "Out of Sight." A novel conceit in which a human being is made to instantly vanish.
ACT II Scene I - The Seance of Simla In which the pet theories of Theosophists and Spiritualists are exploited. A departure from the accepted regime of latter-day miracle expositions, perplexing and uncanny. "Can such things be and o'ercome us like a summer cloud?" Corinne Carter - the Psychic Phenomenon. A chapter from the supernatural. Grave doubts are raised in the minds of thinking people by this strange performance. An affinity with unseen powers seems certain. The second part to conclude with the bewildering and bewitching illusion entitled: Flyto An experiment in which the propulsion of the astral body seems possible. Space annihilated, time decimated and the laws of nature set aside. A pretty illusion, quite obfuscating the will and confounding the senses.
ACT III Scene I - A Night In China Carter impersonating the famous Chinese Court magicians. An exposition of ancient Oriental necromancy, wherein the wonderful sorcerers of China are imitated and impersonated. Immense objects produced from nothingness.
53 "And for ways that are dark and tricks that are vain, the heathen Chinese is peculiar."
ACT I (Lights full on scene, a palace hung in rich plushes, attendants, liveried assistants. Carter enters, a young man prematurely gray, in evening dress.) Carter: Ladies and gentlemen, with your permission I will endeavor to mystify you with a few experiments in legerdemain. For my first experiment I shall call your attention to this decanter. (Picking up decanter) On my table to the left I have a similar bottle, both of these bottles, as you will observe, are empty. I will stand on the far corner of the stage and place inside this bottle a red piece of silk. (Put silk in bottle) On my word of command I shall cause the piece of silk to disappear from this bottle and reappear immediately after in that one on the table. Watch closely, and if you have sharp eyes you will see the handkerchief disappear from one decanter and appear in the other. One two-pass! (Handkerchief instantly vanishes from the bottle held by Carter and at the same time reappears, without any covering in the bottle on the table. Handkerchief removed and both bottles shown empty) Both bottles are perfectly empty and as innocent of any deception as I am. (Music)
54 For my second experiment I have number three bottle partially filled with water. I shall place this bottle on the stand to my left and around its exterior I will place this piece of silk. (Covering bottle with handkerchief) To my right you will observe a vase filled to the brim with ink. In order to convince you that the liquid is really ink I shah dip into it this playing card. You will notice that the lower haft of the card is black as the darkness of night proving the liquid genuine. It will be my object to cause the ink and the water to change places visibly. Both of these liquids will meet and pass each other in midair about here. One-two-change! (Ink instantly changed to water without any cover. Water changed to ink) (Music) A magician's entertainment would be considered incomplete unless the magician were to do something with a pack of cards. Therefore, to be in order, I will manipulate this deck in a manner peculiarly my own, presenting first a series of shuffles. The first of these shuffles is called the Liverpool or Waterfall Shuffle. The second shuffle, the Manchester Shuffle; the third shuffle the London Shuffle and the fourth shuffle the Brixton Shuffle. (Carter causes cards to fly from one hand to the other imitating a waterfall) This is the Liverpool or Waterfall Shuffle which I shah repeat. (Allowing a few cards to fall from the pack to the floor) I allowed these cards to fall purposely to give you an illustration of the spray of the falls. The next shuffle is the Manchester Shuffle. (Running cards up his left arm) You see how they line them up in Manchester. The third shuffle will be the London Shuffle or the Whist Player's Shuffle. A friend of mine showed me this recently and said that whenever he wanted to look at his cards, he turned them over thus. (Running cards up coat sleeve in a line and then by a dexterous movement of the left hand causing the cards to flop over entirely on the coat sleeve) And the fourth shuffle - the Brixton Shuffle. (Shuffling cards in the ordinary manner) (Music) I shall now trouble the audience to select three or four cards from the deck. (Cards handed to audience who select some from pack afterwards replacing them) I shall now call your attention to a glass goblet, perfectly empty, merely an ordinary glass, a beer glass, very familiar to me. In this glass I shall place the deck of cards, and on my behest the selected ones will make their appearance consecutively.
55 (Placing deck in glass and placing glass on a crystal top table)First card arise! (Card slowly rises out of the deck which is acknowledged by the auditor who selected it) Second card arise! Third card arise! (Third card appears with the back to the audience) Would you like to have the Jack jump entirely out of the deck? Yes. Jack jump out of the pack! (Card jumps out of pack) (Music) One more card still remains to be called for. The gentleman who has this card will kindly tear it into small fragments after which we shall have the fragments put inside my old magical blunderbuss. Thank you. Did you keep one of the pieces? No? Kindly select one of the pieces as a sort of memento for the identification of your card. I will now direct your attention to an old hat which you see upon the table to the left of the stage. I will fire this revolver at the hat and the gentleman's card will appear thereon nailed to the crown of the hat, minus, of course, the piece which the gentleman holds. One-two-go! (Firing revolver and card instantly appears nailed on the crown of the old hat on the table, minus the corner which the auditor holds. This corner is subsequently fitted to the card which has appeared and is found to fit correctly proving it to be the same card just destroyed) (Music) For my next experiment I have two nickel plated cups. These cups are empty as the sound will indicate. I shall pass one of these cups through the other thus. (Holding one cup at arms length and dropping the other cup inside, releasing at the same time number one cup which creates the illusion of one cup appearing to pass through the other.) I shall explain this trick. Hold number one cup so, drop number two into number one. By doing this quickly one appears to slide through the other. This is a very nice trick for the children. I shall place these cups on my table and direct your attention to three boxes. Each one of these boxes contains a different substance: the first box clippings of white paper, the second box clippings of different colored papers and the third box a small quantity of bran. From each of these boxes I shall fill the receptive apparatus on my stand. Cup number one I shall fill from box number one. (Filling cup number one with white paper from box number one) Cup number two I shall fill from box number two. (Filling cup number two from box number two with different colored paper) Lastly I shall ifil the other cup with bran. (Filling cup with bran)
56 I shall cover the first cup with a square of velvet, number two cup with a second square of velvet, and the glass with a piece of paper. I desire now to call your special attention to this feat of magic as I consider it to be one of the most mysterious deceptions you have ever seen. At my word of command I shall transform the bran in the glass to sugar, the white paper in cup number one to pure milk, and the different colored paper in cup number two to hot smoking coffee right before your eyes and with the rapidity of thought. One-two-change! (Pouring instead of paper and bran milk, steaming hot coffee and loaf sugar, which is passed out for examination) You will notice that in place of the different colored paper we have smoking hot coffee. I had that up my sleeve. (Music) (Taking down two chairs to center of footlights.) I spent ten years investigating spiritualism and among the great mediums I had the honor of becoming acquainted with Dr. Slade, the old Davenport Brothers, the King Sisters, Anna Eva Fay and many other remarkable personages who claimed to be assisted by a supernatural power in that which they presented. I am now about to show you a manifestation I saw done some years ago by Miss Fay, and claimed by her to be done by the aid of spirit power. After you have seen it, of course you may draw your own conclusions and call it whatever you please. I would not have you suspect, however, that I am about to ridicule Spiritualism. On the contrary, you are at liberty to infer whatever you please after having seen the deception, if it may be called so. If you desire to designate it as SPiritualism, you may do so, or hypnotism, mesmerism, magnetism, mechanism or rheumatism. I shall place these chairs here in the center of the stage where all may see them and on the top thereof I will place this pane of glass which you can see through. I use glass rather than any other material to prove the absence of electricity, as glass is a non-conductor, a perfect insulator for electrical apparatus or appliances, and consequently innocent of fraud. I also use glass so that you may see through the trick. (Turns back to audience and arranges glass on top of the backs of the two chairs) In my hand I have a piece of wood carved, painted and made to represent, as nearly as possible, a lady's hand. This hand possesses the remarkable faculty of reading your minds. It will tell you how old you are, where you were born, how much money you have in your pockets, where you are going, your age, in fact anything that you care to know. I shall pass the hand to the audience for their examination and you will oblige me by looking at it carefully, shaking hands with it and forming its acquaintance, after which return it to me and then we shall see what results may be obtained, assuming, of course, that all conditions are favorable. (Passes hand to a member of the audience)
57 I might inform you I performed the trick not long ago in one of the principal cities in Egypt, and while I was doing it a gentleman in the audience arose and maintained that I was a spiritualist. He said, "I understand very well how you do this sort of thing. You are a genuine medium and have some affiliation with spirits and yon are not aware of it." I told the gentleman that I had nothing to do with spirits that night and then he claimed that I could have a mechanical clockwork arrangement concealed in the wrist of the hand and that by touching one of these brass ornamentations it set the clock in motion and thereby the hand attained some sort of animation and performed a rhythmical tapping which might be effected by clockwork. I can assure you, however, that there is no clockwork in the hand and even though we assume, for the sake of argument that the hand is filled with machinery it would not account for its intelligence. If you have examined it to your satisfaction I shall be obliged if you will please return it. (Hand is returned to Carter) I shall now place the hand upon the glass but before doing so I might remark that perhaps you would be curious to know the history of the hand. I will tell you how I came by it. It was carved for me ten years ago on the beach at Atlantic City by a very devoted leader of Spiritualism, a gentleman of the name of Bingham. He claimed that it was impossible to reproduce a spiritualistic manifestation of the astral hand and challenged me to do so. While we were talking, he whittled out of a block of wood this hand. I performed the trick for him, much of course to his consternation, and then he made me a present of the hand. It has been with me ever since in my travels around the world, Wales and Ireland. I shall now place the hand on the glass and I will have the hand tap out its vocabulary. One tap signifies "No," two taps mean "Yes" and three taps "I do not know." Miss Hand, are you prepared to answer questions this evening? (The hand taps twice on the glass without any visible assistance) Yes, quite so, kindly tell the ladies what you mean or how you signify "No." (Hand taps once on the glass) Now say "Yes." (Hand taps twice) Now say "I do not know." (Hand taps three times) If you will kindly ask the hand any questions which may be answered by no or yes, you may do so and the hand will instantly respond. Anything political, spiritual, personal, horizontal or otherwise. (At this juncture the auditors ask different questions, which are answered by the hand by taps on the glass in the manner described.) If any of you would like to know your ages, the hand will tell you how old you are. Would any lady like to know how old she is? Thank you Madame. Miss Hand, kindly tell
58 us how old the lady is with her hand up. Two and three. Twenty-three Madame. Thank you, is that correct? Yes. Is the young lady married? (Hand taps "No") Is she willing to be? (Hand taps very quickly "Yes") I will now have the hand come down the glass and shake hands with you. First of aH, I want to convince all present that if I do succeed in deceiving you, it must be done remarkably quick. I will place the hand on the glass, and the very instant it touches the glass it will begin tapping, and then it will come down and shake hands as naturally as if it were a pleasure...or a politician. (Hand taps instantly upon the glass and Carter walks over and waves his hand round about the hand on the glass to prove the absence of any concealed mechanism, and then removes the hand from the glass and shows it to the audience. Replacing it and then commanding it to come down and shake hands) Miss Hand, come down the glass and shake hands. (Hand slides down the surface of the glass into Carter's hand and apparently shakes hands. This is done in the center of the stage with the lights turned up fully) Two chairs, a piece of wood, and a pane of glass constitute the entire apparatus for this remarkable so-called spiritualistic enigma. (Music) (Assistant enters and clears the stage) I should like to borrow from some ladies in the audience four finger rings and I shall be glad to return them in a few moments merely wishing to employ them for the experiment. (Goes among the audience and borrows four rings) The assistance of a little boy from the audience is required. (The boy is secured and Carter returns to the stage with the boy, holding him by the hand) Now, my young man, you have never been on a stage before? BOY: "No." Whenever you come on the stage it is always customary to make a nice polite bow. (Putting his hand on the back of the boy and assisting him to bow)
59 Thanks. Now if you will please hold these rings in your hand I will tie them with a ribbon in order that you may not lose them, after which I should like to have you repeat a few magic words after me in Spanish. You don't speak Spanish! Ah well, then I'll have you run through them in French. Thank you. Say, "Ladies and Gentlemen." BOY: "Ladies and Gentlemen." I am about to place myself in the hands... BOY: "I am about to place myself in the hands." Of a prestidigitator. BOY: "Of a pres..." Ah, you cannot get that eh. Well try it again. Of a pres... BOY: "Of a pres." Te. BOY: "Te." Digitator. BOY: "Pigitator." Ah, that is very good, very good indeed. Now swell your chest out.(Boy swells out his chest) Now repeat the remainder. To learn the art... BOY: "To learn the art." Of... BOY: "Of." Transan... BOY: "Transan." Dabansinecromancy. (Boy smiles and fails to repeat it)
60 (Carter breaks up ladies' finger rings and loads them into a revolver) Now, my young man, if you will stand on this side of the stage and open your mouth wide I will fire the revolver at you and you will get the ladies' rings in your cheeks. (Boy shows signs of fear) You have never been shot, have you? BOY: "No." Then your misery will soon be over. (Boy stands on the other side of the stage with his mouth open. Carter in the attitude of firing revolver at boy) (Boy puts his hand up to his mouth to prevent the bullet or powder getting into his mouth. This is repeated twice.) Well, I will compromise the matter with you. You take the revolver and shoot me. (Boy is anxious to take revolver from Carter. Carter withdrawing the proffered weapon, smiles) Ah, ah, you wish to shoot me. Well, I'll have you hold my magic wand instead. (Hands wand to boy) Hold this tight. If you should happen to relieve me of it you will disappear. (Boy with a look of sternness holding wand in his right hand and looking at Carter) Hold it a little higher. That's right. If you get tired of holding it here, you can hold it up there. (Carter pushes boys arm up higher) I will now call your attention to a box which has been hanging before the curtains all the evening. This box was put into position this afternoon at 4 o'clock. I will fire the revolver at the box, the ladies' rings will mysteriously leave the pistol and appear inside the box. (Carter fires revolver at box and takes down box from tripod. Opens it and finds inside another box, opens this and finds inside another box, opens this and finds inside a fourth box, all locked. Inside the fourth box another box, also securely locked which the boy aids in opening. Inside are three of the ladies' rings, each one tied to a posy. Rings are returned to owners, whereupon one auditor complains that her ring is still missing) We shall find it directly. (Carter returns to the stage and dismisses the boy and obtains a champagne bottle)
61 I have here an inexhaustible bottle and from this bottle I can supply the audience with any sort of drink, anything from a glass of water to a pint of Champagne. What would you like? A little port, sherry, whisky, old Mountain Dew, Piper Heidsic, Mum's Extra Dry, Cliquot, milk, sarsaparilla, Ginger Ale, a glass of water, anything that you desire. Thank you, you will have a little whisky. You'll try a glass of sherry. And you? Champagne. (Carter pours different liquors from the one bottle) I shall now smash this bottle, and inside you will fred the lady's ring. (Smashes the bottle and discovers inside a live guinea pig around whose neck the lady's ring is found. Carter returns the ring to the lady in the audience and allows the guinea pig to be inspected. Returning to stage he proceeds to wrap the guinea pig up in a newspaper) I will make you a present of this guinea pig, Madame, and will wrap him up in the paper so that you may with more facility carry him home. (Carter pretends that the lady does not want the guinea pig) Ah, you don't care for the guinea pig. Very well, I will change the guinea pig into something more appropriate. (Opens the newspaper and discovers a bouquet of real roses in place of the live guinea pig and hands them to lady)
Scene II I will now introduce, ladies and gentlemen, our very pretty illusion which we call Levitation. In India there are two kinds of fakirs or fakeers, as they are called in Calcutta. One is known as the high caste fakir, the other is the low caste. One will perform for money, the other makes his business a matter of a religious ceremony. The high caste fakirs live in the Himalayas and come down to thc low lands but seldom. The low caste fakir is often times met with in India by Europeans traveling through the country but the high caste fakir is rarely seen except in his native heath. During the celebration of the Viceroy' s daughter's marriage a year ago I was fortunate in meeting with a high caste fakir in Choringee in Calcutta. For the Maiden, he hypnotized the boy and after making his body perfectly rigid he placed him on the points of two swords, the hilts of which rested in the earth. He allowed the boy to remain in this position quite passively for perhaps fifteen minutes, defying the laws of gravity.
62 Coming up the Red Sea from Bombay to Port Said, one often meets with the faithful Mohammedans making their pilgrimages to Mecca where it is said they are permitted to see the sarcophagus of Mahomet raised in midair without any visible means of support. Tonight, I shall illustrate the theory of the Brahmins which is to the effect that they may suspend animation and make the body like thin ether. I shall hypnotize a young lady and thereafter we shall cause her to defy the laws of gravity and sleep in air. A hoop will be passed about her recumbent form to prove the absence of solid mechanism. We call this pretty illusion Levitation, the opposite of gravitation. (Music) (To Fakir) Salaam, Sahib. (Carter hypnotizes young lady by means of a crystal which she looks at and gradually falls into a hypnotic condition, tumbling backwards into the arms of the standing fakir. A third assistant picks up the young lady by the feet and these two carry her to a couch in the center of the stage. Lights all turned up. Carter stands behind couch, holds up his arms and looks into the air exclaiming:) Il, il, aloo razoo il Mahomet il! FAKIR (assistant): Il Mahomet. (Young lady gradually rises from couch into the air to a height of about seven feet whereupon the couch is removed and Carter passes under her body waving his hand. At the same time approaching the footlights and leaving the young lady laying in midair without anyone near her and the couch entirely removed) The young lady rests in air and could remain in this position for hours, if necessary. We shall now pass the hoop about her, as I have previously described. (Hands hoop to audience to examine after which it is returned and Carter standing upon a chair, slowly passes the hoop twice around the young lady and then drops it on to the stage where it rolls to the audience. Carter descends from chair and chair is removed and the couch replaced and the body of the young lady gradually descends to the couch. She is picked up by the two assistants in a rigid state and is brought to the footlights, whereupon Carter makes a few passes over her eyes and brings her back to consciousness and she bows and exits. (Music)
Scene III I will now present for your notice an illusion which we call the Magical Divorce or Out of Sight. I will introduce Mrs. Carter herein who will be seated upon a chair behind a windlass which you will see. By means of this machinery, we will hoist her in the air, then I shall fire a revolver at her and send her out of sight. This is the quickest way to get rid of a troublesome wife.
63
(Lights slightly lowered. Curtains open disclosing a huge windlass which has the appearance of a guillotine. Mrs. Carter is introduced and is seen sitting on a chair behind the windlass to which ropes are attached and an assistant and Carter wind her up to a height of six feet in the air. Carter approaches footlights with pistol and fires point blank three times at Mrs. Carter who instantly vanishes and the chair she sat upon falls to the stage empty. Carter picks up the chair and brings it to the footlights) (Lights, curtain, music)
ACT II Scene I I will introduce next, ladies and gentlemen, the Seance of Simla. This is an exposition of spiritualistic manifestation done without the necessity of the magician or medium entering the cabinet and having the cabinet built directly in front of your eyes. After having built the cabinet very startling materializations will take place. (Music) (Carter and assistant construct before the audience a cabinet which folds up like a screen on a platform with legs and rollers. After the cabinet is built, two doors in the front are opened and upon a chair three or four tambourines and bells are laid. The doors are
64 slammed whereupon the bells are heard to ring and the tambourines are seen through the windows in the doors being played and thumped upon) Spiritualists tell us that whenever a spirit returns to this world they manifest themselves by a series of taps; therefore I shall place this cane in the cabinet, close the door and if we have any of our friends hovering near the earth they will begin by tapping on the door with the cane, I shall run my hand up and down the cane two or three times to magnetize it and place it here where you may see it. (Puts cane in the cabinet, shuts doors and immediately after the doors are closed, a noise is heard in the cabinet as of a man rapping, and instantly a cane is seen pushed through one of the windows of the door. This taps on the door outside in full view of the audience. Then it is thrown out of the cabinet by some invisible power and caught by Carter) ASSISTANT: Ah, that cane has some string on it. No, there is no string attached to it. You may examine it. (Hands cane to assistant who is standing directly in front of one of the doors. At the same time takes the cane, a hand mysteriously projects itself through the window and slaps the assistant on the head two or three times and then is withdrawn into the cabinet and disappears. At the sallie time the doors are thrown open quickly and disclose an empty cabinet. Consternation of assistant) When I tell you to run, you run to the doors and open them and if you catch the spirits, I will make you a present of a shilling. ASSISTANT: Very well, when you tell me to run, I shall run to the doors. I am ready. (Carter approaches cabinet with hands on two knobs and while the noise is at its height he quickly throws open the two doors. Tambourines and bells are seen to fall to the floor but the cabinet remains perfectly empty. Assistant at the same time runs to the cabinet, and afterwards looks much surprised and discomfited) During my recent visit to Rome I was presented with this muffler by the keeper of the Castle of San Angelo who said that the muffler at one time was the property of Cagliostro, the old French charlatan. It is said amongst theosophists that if you possess mediumnistic power and also have any token which might have belonged at one time to a medium since departed this world, it is possible to call back at will the shade of that particular individual. Tonight, I shall have the ghost of Cagliostro come back and he will take his place in this handkerchief and do an Irish jig for us across the stage. (Handkerchief passed to audience for examination and then placed on a chair inside the cabinet with the doors left wide open) (Music)
65 (Handkerchief at the command of Carter jumps out of cabinet and alights on the floor. Carter commands the handkerchief to arise and then in French addresses it thusly) Danse Cagliostro! (Handkerchief dances off the stage) Descendez! Approche, monsieur! (Handkerchief is seen walking on its tail on one corner and goes to Carter. Carter picks up handkerchief and walks to audience with it proving that nothing is connected thereto) I shall now introduce the ghost of Katie King. Sir William Crooke has investigated Spiritualism for years and had the ghost of Katie King materialized in his own house. Tonight I will attempt to refute the theory of spiritualists that says it is impossible to materialize a welldefined spirit in the light. I will have Katie King come to the window. You may recognize her charming features. (Cabinet is closed and curtains are arranged in the window) Come to the window, Katie King. (Music)(A ghostly face of a woman is seen at the window of the cabinet. She nods yes and no) Away Katie King. (Doors opened quickly by Carter disclosing an empty cabinet) We shall have the cabinet turned about now to prove that it is perfectly empty and for the last time the bells will ring and the tambourines be thumped upon. (Cabinet is turned around. Doors opened and slammed and the bells are heard ringing and tambourines played as heretofore. In the midst of this pandemonium the doors are once more thrown open when the bells and tambourines are seen to fall to the floor and the cabinet otherwise is shown empty. The cabinet is thereupon wheeled about and taken apart in much the same manner as it was built, and in pieces wheeled off the stage)(Music)
Scene II (Corinne Carter describes articles held by auditors. Reads written questions, sealed letters, business and calling cards of auditors without them being seen by her) CORINNE: I see a young lady who had written a question and she asks, "Will I ever be a great singer?" Yes you will be a great singer some day. Keep right on practicing and never mind what the neighbors say. Another young lady wishes to know whether she will
66 take a trip this year. Yes you will take a long sea journey. You are going to Calais. A gentleman who signs himself "Dr. Jones" wants to know who has the larger head, a man or a woman? A man has the larger head but have no fear Doctor, in 30% of cases, while a man has the larger head his brain is nearly as good as a woman's. (Lines of this sort throughout, business, comedy and so forth)
Scene III (A hexagonal cage made of wood is discovered in the center of the stage with green curtains behind)
I will now introduce a very pretty illusion which we call Flyto. I have a young woman by the name of Princess Karnac who will illustrate the possibilities of her astral entity. She will take her place inside this cage or pagoda and at will change her entity and appear in three of four different places in the theatre at the same time. This young lady comes from Lhassa, a county of Tibet, and she is a student of theosophy. Princess Karnac. (Enter Princess made up as an Egyptian priestess. She enters cabinet with red curtains pulled down, doors being closed by Carter)(Music) (Open doors of cage. Discover instead of the Princess a young soldier who marches out to the tune of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." The cabinet is now hoisted in the air by a chain, shown empty and the doors closed. Another cage or cabinet, nearly of the same size, is pushed out from the side to the centre of stage) We have a little prison all ready for the prisoner but we have no prisoner. Where is the little prisoner?
67 Voice from audience: Here I am. (A young lady rushes down the centre aisle of stalls, up on to the stage and is then ushered in the cage which is opened on the stage. The doors are closed) I will now cause the young lady to fly from the lower cage to the upper one. One-two-go! (Curtains flung up and cage seen hanging in the air disclosing the young lady who was first seen. An assistant opens the doors of the lower cage showing that it is perfectly empty. The upper cage is lowered to the stage by means of the chain and windlass and the young lady steps out smiling)
ACT III Scene I (A scene is shown of an exterior garden in China) (Music) Carter made up as a Chinese Mandarin enters with three other assistants also costumed and made up to impersonate Chinese sing-song girls, assistants and so forth. Carter mumbles an introduction in broken Chinese to audience after which a cloth is given him about six feet square. While talking what is known as pigeon English, he shakes the cloth on the stage and produces a huge bowl of water weighing over eight stone (119 pounds). Two assistants get the water from bowl by buckets. Carter once more showing his gown to be free from any contrivances or secret pockets, waves the same cloth in the air again over a pan which rests on a tabourette and produces therefrom three live geese or ducks) (A trunk on legs about one foot from the ground hauled on. This trunk is turned about to show that nothing is concealed around it and then the top is opened from which a tray is removed and the front let down disclosing the interior of the trunk empty. This trunk is now lined with four sheets of plate glass, one in front, one at each end and one at the back, the tray being replaced) I shall now show the young lady who lives in a glass trunk in contradistinction to the fairy tale old woman who lived in a shoe. (Slamming up trunk and locking it and dropping the lid. Turning the trunk around entirely and opening it up as heretofore, whereupon a young lady is discovered inside the trunk, the glasses remaining in the position in which they were placed, the young lady being assisted from the trunk by Carter) (One of the assistants produces flowers from a cornucopia and raises table in the air by merely laying hands on the top of the table. In this scene Chinese jugglers, magicians, acrobats and gymnasts appear) (Music)
68 THE END
Frederick
Bancroft,
Conjurer
His By H.J. published in Originally Illusions and Mental Phenomena (1898)
Career Tricks
in
Burlingame Magic,
Frederick Bancroft was born in Rochester, N. Y., in January, 1867. His real name was Frederick Bronson. He died in Charleston, South Carolina, September 26th, 1897, of typhoid fever. Some of his friends claim that he contracted the germs of this disease while stopping in his hotel in New York City. The street in front of this hotel was torn up,
69 so much so that it caused considerable miasma in the neighborhood. Others claim that the sudden change from a cool to a warm climate brought on the disease in a constitution already weakened by a large amount of exertion, and found an easy victim in a person suffering to a great extent from nervous prostration caused by his failure to win the success and recognition he had anticipated. Mr. Bancroft lived for a number of years in central New York, at Rochester and Syracuse. About 1878 and 1879 he was in Chicago for some time and made his first appearance as a boy magician under the name of De Castro, on the stage of what is now the Olympic theatre, doing only a few small tricks. He afterward became a dentist, and when the boom in real estate business came on in St. Paul and Minneapolis, he was acting as a life insurance agent in those cities. He succeeded very well in this business, and made some money speculating in real estate at that time. While living in those cities he took quite an interest in magic and often appeared in amateur entertainments, church societies and benefits and club entertainments. He became intimately acquainted with the late Alexander Herrmann, and traveled with him in a friendly way for some time. It was principally through his association with the late Mr. Herrmann that Bancroft decided to adopt the stage, and he frequently remarked to his friends that he was surprised to see how much money Mr. Herrmann took in in his tours. After considering the matter for some time, Bancroft, finally decided to enter the business professionally and to surround himself with the most magnificent scenic productions that any magician had ever used. He had ample means to purchase everything he desired, but instead of purchasing a good outlay of new or original tricks, he confined himself entirely to small, antiquated tricks known by nearly every school boy, and imitated the performance of Mr. Herrmann as closely as possible. To offset the lack of attraction in this part of his program, he procured the most elaborate stage accessories possible, and lavished a large amount of money in these expensive fittings. He claimed his outfit to have cost in the neighborhood of $30,000, and he frequently stated to his friends, when they suggested that he ought to change his program and put in better tricks, that it was his plan to introduce and perform the same old tricks, but with elaborate and expensive accessories, and carry out this plan for four or five years, even if he lost $20,000 or $30,000, expecting to come around and play over the same routes the third or fourth time, and after he had done so for a number of years, to then be able to travel on his reputation alone, and make up in a couple of years all he would have lost and enough more to allow him to retire on a competency. He could not be persuaded that this was the wrong policy. His untimely end and his failure to secure proper recognition in the amusement world proved that his friends were correct and his plans were wrong. Any such plan as that in the present age is certain to fail. American audiences will not tolerate an imitation of a performer like Herrmann; especially so when the artist is a young man. After the first year's experience he felt the need of an extended rest, and after conferring with his friends, decided to make a trip to Europe and the East Indies. He intended, while in Europe, to call on the leading manufacturers and inventors of conjuring apparatus in those countries and to learn if there was anything he could bring back from India. He did not call on any of the manufacturers or inventors of conjuring
70 apparatus in Europe, but went right through to India. It is needless to say that he did not find anything in those countries that he could make use of. East Indian magic is a myth, and all their marvelous feats have been fully exploded and are now satisfactorily explained. After his return Mr. Bancroft secured as manager Mr. E. L. Bloom, former manager of the late Alexander Herrmann. Of course, this was done with the belief that Mr. Bloom would succeed in placing Mr. Bancroft in the best theatres of the larger cities, where he could have a better chance for financial success. Unfortunately, right at the beginning of this tour he was taken sick and died. Many believe that the mortification and nervousness brought on by his failure were instrumental in causing his death. Mr. Bloom was left in a position where he secured the Bancroft outfit, and took up his old friend, Henry Dixey, as the man he thought most capable to continue with the paraphernalia. It is very peculiar that at the time Bancroft was playing at McVicker's theatre in Chicago, Amy Leslie, the well-known theatrical critic of the Daily News, in speaking of his performance, made the remark that Henry Dixey was the only man available who might make a great new success, and add, by his own invention, to the field of magic. Of course, she knew very well that Mr. Dixey would never be an inventor of any conjuring tricks, but that he might be a successful entertainer there was no question. In this connection experience teaches that any person who copies a well-known and public performer, using his patter or imitating his tricks, is certain to fail. While there is no doubt that imitation is the sincerest flattery, yet a conjurer without any originality or original tricks had better stay out of the profession entirely, because by his failure, which is inevitable, he only makes it unpleasant and difficult for those who follow after him, however original they may be.
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A New Star (Taken from Mahatma, July 1895) A new magician will be on the road next season with a show that means a new departure in the magic business. Frederick Bancroft, a magician who has had nineteen years experience as an amateur, is putting on a magnificent "Spectacular Production of Magic," which is replete with new ideas, and marks a new era in the development of magic as an art. Bancroft has plenty of capital to carry out his decidedly extravagant ideas, and his marvelous skill and fascinating powers of entertainment will be supported by the finest scenery and most beautiful spectacular effects that money can buy, and he will be assisted by a large company of talented specialty artists, including many beautiful women. Everything pertaining to the entertainment is new and original and on the same scale of costliness and artistic excellence. Most of the arrangements have already been completed. Mr. Bancroft's manager is Clarence Fleming, well known for many years as the manager of high class attractions in this country and Europe. Mr. Bancroft's bookings are now being completed. He will play only in the best theatres and most of the contracts already closed are for week engagements in the larger cities.
Frederick Bancroft, (Conjurer). Bancroft died of Typhoid Fever at Charleston, S.C., Sept. 25th, 1897. Aged 31 years Originally published in Stanyon's Magic, February to June, 1902 For more Bancroft material see link at bottom of page The main attraction in this show was the magnificent scenic accessories which probably surpassed anything produced in modern times. The opening scene represented a Palace with a large winding stairway in the rear, down which Bancroft came. At the foot of the stairs he was met by two lady attendants attired in male court Costume of lavender coloured satin and large white wigs who relieved him of his large black cloak. He was dressed in black court costume. The stage setting consisted of one large centre table, the
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feet of which were imitation devils. One large square yellow bronze side table, on four legs shaped like elephant heads. A large square maroon colored side table, with four legs of serpentine shape. On the right of stage, in front of two traps in side scene, were two stands, apparently side tables, and in the extreme left front corner was an upholstered gilt chair with trap in seat. Ban,croft introduced himself in the following simple manner:-- "I have the pleasure to introduce a few illusions, some of my own invention and others that are not of my invention." Rapid Transit or the Transposition of Ink and Water contained in separate vessels. A carafe of clear water is held by coloured assistant who drops in the ink pellet as Bancroft covers the carafe with a handkerchief. The vase, resting on the centre table, is an old style one; it is full of clean water, with gold fish, but lined black silk to make it appear a vase of ink. The silk lining is secretly taken out when removing handkerchief with which the vase was covered. Water in the hands of assistant is found changed to ink. (A better way is to have a decanter fitted stopper ground out to receive a small portion of pyro-gallic acid. The decanter contains as much powdered sulphate of iron as will lay on a six-pence. Clean water contained in a glass jug and passed for examination is now poured into decanter and stopper is placed in position. The performer now commands the water to change to ink, shakes decanter, and the trick is done--no covering. This method is smart and dispenses with the assistant.--Ed.). Enchanted Cards.-- This was the Rising Cards where the skeleton Houlelte is fixed on the top of a broom stick. Three cards forced, returned, and pack shuffled and laid on table. Houlette introduced and examined. Finally a pack of cards, prepared with the thread, is taken from table, in place of the shuffled pack, and placed in Houlette, and the trick is practically done. (I would suggest a better "change" than the above. Performer to pick up the original shuffled pack from table and, in going towards Houlette held by assistant, to stumble, apparently by accident, over leg of a chair and to drop the cards on the floor--this, in the eyes of the knowing ones, would appear a dreadful fiasco. Picking up the cards, and in the act of moving the chair a little out of the way performer would change the cards for the prepared pack by means of our special Card Changing 8ervante for back of chair. The free end of the thread in this case might well be attached to the handle of a fan lying on seat of chair and which performer would pick up at same time. The pack is placed in Houlette, the thread being
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tightened as required under cover of the natural movements of the fan the draught from which is supposed to cause the chosen cards to rise.--Ed.). The Magic Orange.--This was Herrmann's favourite trick with Orange Cone and Hat, exactly as explained in Modern Magic. Illusion Diablo was the talking skull on a sheet of glass, which told the page, number of line, and number of words in line, selected from any book by one of audience. As the skull rapped out the numbers, Bancroft wrote them down on a black-board, for the word the skull nodded at each letter of the word as Bancroft called off the alphabet, thus working "Kellar's great Book Act," as usually worked with a lady medium. When Bancroft introduced the skull the recess at back of stage became dark and lightning flashed. The result of the numbers when added up and placed on black-board was 1410, and the gentleman holding book was told to turn to that page, but could not find it as the book was not large, enough. Bancroft then said the cipher was not necessary, and erased it, and then had the gentleman turn to page 14t. This little by-play was taking. The Nest of Boxes.-- Borrowed rings loaded in pistol and shot into a nest of boxes held on a rod-by the two lady assistants on the stage. The last box was produced from the shelf of the side table, the table being brought on from its position in front of the scene where it had done duty as a console. Several Surprises.-- Two candles; lighted and placed on centre table. Small basket, supposed to be full of eggs, but upon opening it, it is found empty. Colored man says he ate them. Colored man's handkerchief, borrowed by Bancroft, loaded into pistol. One of the candles taken from its candle-stick, wrapped in paper, and handed to colored man to hold. Bancroft shoots at him, breaks the paper in two, finds handkerchief in it, turns colored man around and candle is seen hanging down his back, as Bancroft said 'instead of his golden hair.' Stew pan now introduced, eggs produced from the darkey's mouth, cooked in the stew pan, change to three large ordinary barn yard pigeons. Then a large bronze urn, 3 feet high, was brought on from the back of stage. Top of it consists of a very large burnished copper
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receptacle, like a chafing dish with a thin cover, which was removed, and the receptacle shown full of artificial flowers and wreaths which were scattered around on the floor of the stage. On command of Bancroft an imp came down the stairs with a rabbit, which he places in this large dish. Then a fairy brought on two birds, one in each hand, which were also placed in the dish. Then another fairy brought a couple of birds, and still another a large crow. Then the cover was placed on and Mephisto appeared with a goblet, which, on taking off the cover, produced flames; and on the cover of the urn being removed, it was found full of flowers, which flew up in great quantities, overflowing on the floor. All the objects placed in the urn remain there.
Then followed Part II., in which the act of The Sultan's Visitor was introduced. This act is as follows:-The scenery is magnificent, and represents the inside of the Sultan's Palace. Seated in the centre of the stage on what is apparently a sofa, is the Sultan, with his usual make up,--long beard, sceptre, &c. At his left are two ladies reclining on couches,--same on his right. Behind each is a boy in oriental costume with long fan. Slave approaches and salutes, saying there is an old juggler at the outer door of the Palace who desires admission. Sultan orders him to be thrown into the sea, as he does not wish to be annoyed; but as the slave says he appears to be as old as the world, he is told that he can wait. Slave retires, and the Sultan calls for Scheherazade who introduces club swinging. After her act, slave returns bearing a glass of wine on a salver. After saluting, says the Royal Ambassadors from Persia are at the outer gate and desire admission. Sultan says he can not receive them as he is occupied with "important affairs of State," but slave explains they desire to present him with a cask of old wine, which, of course, is another thing, and the Sultan samples the wine and says he will at once see the Ambassadors. He retires; slave calls his attention to the old juggler and Sultan says he has no objection to the ladies of his household being entertained with a little harmless amusement, and tells him he can be shown in while he is out. Bancroft comes on disguised as an old man. He sees the four fan boys. Calls them all up in a row, pretends to give each one some magic seed, and tells them to run out and plant this in the garden and watch it grow up into a tree which will bear gold dollars, and they can pick them!!! As soon as they depart he pretends to mesmerize all the ladies present except Scheherazade, the slave
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standing in centre back of stage. He then speaks to Scheherazade and says: "You have dreamed three nights that a young man would come and save you and help you make your escape." She says:-"How did you know that?" Bancroft says:-- "I can read minds even at a distance." She says:-- "But the one I dreamed of is a young man." Bancroft says:-- "I am he," and throws off his disguise, being in his conjurer's attire of evening court dress. Produces inevitable paper from his pocket and says he has here a permit to remove a box of old clothes outside of the castle walls, and that she can escape in the box, and will be received by friends on the outside, and that the slave is in his employ, whom he now calls upon to help him make a box. They remove the cushions from the pedestal on which the Sultan was sitting, and disclose a box about the size of a casket. The lid of the box is removed and some cushions placed in box; then Scheherazade lies down on these cushions, then the back, then the front, then the two ends of the box are raised up and the lid put on. Of course a mirror arrangement underneath the box, and a trap in the bottom of the box allows her to go through same and through the stage. While she is doing this, the two men make considerable noise by taking two antique foot stools and thumping them about the stage, while placing them in the centre of the stage, and then they lift the box and place it on these two stools. Bancroft says "Let us remove this," and as they are about to take hold of it, the Sultan enters with the remark:-- "What are you doing with that box?" Bancroft says in an aside "I am discovered!" Then produces his paper and remarks that he has a permit to remove a box of old clothes. Sultan says "It is false! You have my Scheherazade in that box. You shall not remove it. I shall kill her!" Bancroft says:-- "That is right. You can not take a man of your equality, but have to make war on a defenceless woman. You shall not kill her. I shall cause her to vanish and go." Says the Sultan "Where." Bancroft says "To paradise." Sultan removes the cover from the top, lets down the sides and ends and finds it empty. Bancroft then says "Would you like to see her?" Sultan answers "Yes." "Then look!" and Bancroft points to the centre back of stage when scene rolls away and tableau of Scheherazade, apparently ascending into Heaven, is seen.
Part III.--The Fairy Flowers.-- Two uprights on centre table, suspended from which is a good sized wreath of artificial flowers. The two girl assistants are this time in costumes of white satin; colored man also assists. Three cards forced. Two gold watches without chains are borrowed, and each wrapped in a handkerchief,
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of a short stick. Cards are replaced in pack, which is placed in a holder at the back of the wreath of flowers. Duplicate watches are emptied out of the little sack and loaded into blunderbuss, assistant walking off with the borrowed watches in the sack. On shooting at the wreath, the three drawn cards appear on top of it and dummy gold watches are hanging underneath. Assistant brings on the ordinary watch and plate frame and places it on table over a piston while performer takes watches off wreath, and puts them on a plate handing it to colored man to return to owners. He stumbles, falls, and drops plate and watches, smashing them. Comedy business. Remnants all wrapped in a newspaper, loaded into blunderbuss and shot into frame in which watches and plate appear. Watches taken off and returned to owners on the plate. Cage and Bird.-- A live canary produced from gentleman's beard, and placed in a small round cage. Small canister, in which cage fits is now shown, cover removed, and it is found filled with bon-bon and nuts. The bon-bon are distributed to audience and the nuts poured into a glass dish and placed aside. Canister also contains one orange which is placed on trap in the chair. The cage is then placed in the canister, which is handed to assistant and reversed in doing so. The orange is then trapped, ostensibly passed into canister, which, on being opened, is found to contain a large number of flags, some baby's clothes, and a good sized United States silk flag, which meets with the usual applause. Coffee, Bean and Sugar Trick.-- Introduced exactly in the manner used by Herrmann, and explained in Modern Magic, the coffee afterwards being distributed to the audience. Card Tricks.-- Hands a pack of cards to a gentleman in audience and asks him to take one card from the middle of it, look at same, replace in pack and shuffle pack. The cards were then taken to centre of stage, and gentlemen told to think of any number under 13, and Bancroft would take one card at a time from the top of the pack, counting them on to table, face down, and requesting gent to say "stop" at the required number, which would be the drawn card. Bancroft exposed this trick by showing that the entire pack of cards was of one suit. In this instance all the cards were the deuce of clubs. The Dissolving Pack of Cards was next introduced, the various "palms" being dropped on to the Shelf of table. Then the Ball Box and Glass Casket, balls going through box into table top and reappearing in the glass casket which he held while it was being shot at by one of the assistants. This took well with the audience.
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Catching Money in the Air and multiplying coins from the plate into the hat exactly as introduced by Herrmann. Hat "rung" on stage by assistants, and when darkey goes to return it, he falls on it. Comedy business. While Bancroft explained darkey put his foot through the hat, which created a laugh. Pieces were wrapped up in newspaper, which was "rung" while wrapping in more paper for another bundle from shelf, with a small hole in the end of the package. Bancroft said, "the hat leaks" opens package, and finds a large negro doll. Calls for Mephisto. Scene opens at rear of stage, and under red fire and tableau, Mephisto is seen in all his glory, handing out the hat to Bancroft who returns it to owner. Handkerchief Manipulation.-- Performer talks of the old German legend of the silk worm, while he turns up his sleeves, the while letting it be seen that his hands are empty; then finds a number of handkerchiefs in the air. We give a method of performing this trick in another part of this issue. The above introductory can be managed by having the first ball of handkerchiefs hidden just inside the left cuff, then, when unbuttoning cuff, ball is finger palmed in right hand; the hand, still holding the ball, rolls up the sleeve and the ball is finally left in the bend of the elbow and concealed by the shirt in a manner familiar to Conjurers. Both hands are now free and the right sleeve is turned up. The ball is again secured in the right hand in the act of putting the finishing touches to the left sleeve, and under cover of the "patter." First, six handkerchiefs are produced from the air and dropped on floor of stage. Then any special colour asked for by audience is produced--in all another half dozen which are likewise dropped on stage. Again, more handkerchiefs are produced, and amongst them, one, "pure white, only spotted all over,"--this is full of holes; another one "doubtful white, gets more doubtful every time, I see it,"--this is dirty white. (Conjurers can now use up their soiled silks). Vanish red, white and blue handkerchiefs, separately, and produces them tied together in a string. For this effect you will doubtless find use once more for one or more of the hollow brass balls. The One Handed Colour Change, white to red:-- Use a red handkerchief prepared with a tube, (same construction as our handkerchief for "Dyeing Handkerchief Trick,") and pick this up from table under cover of the white handkerchief. This trick can be repeated if you have another set of handkerchiefs ready on the table. To produce any number of handkerchiefs. Force the number "nine" in usual manner, and when placing last handkerchief on table,
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secure another "ball" from left pochette, which ball is loaded with nine handkerchiefs in sets of three, so that three can be produced at one and the same time; produce and count, three! six!! nine!!! These are cut in half, diagonally, as explained elsewhere in this issue, so that they may all be held in the one ball. By way of variation the nine may be produced altogether, the counting being the same, but you making out the handkerchiefs are invisible, and then, finally undertaking to make them visible. Under cover of these nine you now produce fifty, sixty a hundred, or even more, from tbe vest showering them on the stage.
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The Master System Card Trick This is no ordinary card trick, this is the mother of all card tricks, and once learned you will be able to perform many different card tricks that defy all logic, because you will know the position of every card in the pack.!!! The cards must not be shuffled or disturbed in any way, but the performer can cut the cards and have several spectators do a straight cut. This will not disturb the order of the cards. This master system arrangement of the cards is far more impressive than just arranging them in numerical order in the suits i.e 2,3,4,5,6, e.t.c. as this sequence looks completely random to the spectator who will not suspect that the cards have been pre arranged. The cards must be stacked as shown in the table below, by first placing the ace of clubs on to a table face up, then the four of hearts and so on until the whole pack is set in the master system order. This order is also known as the Si Stebbins order Clubs Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
Hearts 4 3 2 Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8 7 6 5
Spades 7 6 5 4 3 2 Ace King Queen Jack 10 9 8
Diamonds 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 Ace King Queen Jack
Rule 1 Each card has a numerical value, Ace=1, jack=11, queen=12 and king=13. Rule 2 Each card is THREE numbers apart, Ace, 4, 7, 10, etc. Rule 3 Every thirteenth card is a card of the same value, but a different suit. Master System trick 1: Fan out the cards, ask a spectator to pick a card, separate the pack at that point, placing the top half on to the bottom of the pack while secretly glancing at the bottom card, you will instantly know the spectator's card. Simply add 3 to the bottom card value and call the following
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suit. You now know the card value so you can improvise your own tricks from here. Master System Trick 2: A spectator cuts the pack, you take them and secretly glance at the bottom card as you put them behind your back, ask the spectator to name a random card, you then pull it from the pack. Simply add three to the bottom card and increment the next suit, this is the value of the top card. Now just count through the cards until you come to their card, where you pull it out and show them. Master System trick 3: Cut the pack a couple of times, then secretly glance at the bottom card as you pass the pack to a spectator, mentally add three to the bottom card and increment the next suit, this is the value of the top card. Ask them to cut the pack into four piles. Announce you are going to predict the top card off of each of the four packs. You already know the card on the first pack, so start from the opposite end and name card you already know, then when you pick up the card you will then be able to see its true value, then you name that card before you pick up the second card and continue to do this until you have named all four cards. Then simply show the cards you have just named to the spectator. Master System trick 4 : Hold the pack of cards in your right hand and slowly let them drop into the palm of your left hand, asking your spectator to say "stop" where ever they want. Secretly look at the bottom card of the remaining pack in your right hand and ask the spectator to take the top card of the pack in your left hand and memorize it. Tell them they must concentrate on their card, you then name their card. Master System trick 5: Tell the spectator that you can tell them how many cards down the pack their chosen card is and ask them to choose any card, number and suit. Then locate the card with the same suit as the one named by the spectator, which is nearest to the bottom. Subtract the number of the card chosen from the card of the same suit near est the bottom of the pack. Then multiply the answer by four and then subtract the number of cards that were below the bottom suit card, the result will be how many cards down from the pack you must count to reach the spectator's chosen card. If the chosen card is a higher value than the suit card on or nearest the bottom of the pack, just add 13 and proceed as above. For example: if the spectator chooses the 9 of diamonds and the card with the same suit nearest the bottom is a 5 of
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diamonds, you will need to add 13 to the 5 of diamonds, making a total of 18. Now subtract their card, the 9 of diamonds from 18, this leaves the number 9, multiply 9 by 4, which equals 36, then subtract the number 2 (which is the number of cards below the bottom suit card). This totals 34, so the 9 of diamonds is 34 cards down from the top of the pack. Thoroughly learn this Master System and practice it well, you will then be able to improvise and create your own tricks based on The Master System, this is one of those tricks that once you have mastered it, you will wonder how you managed without it. Hint: To remember the order of the card suits, it is useful to think of the word CHASED i.e C H aSeD
82 The Nest of Boxes
On the stage stands a chair with a cane back. This back is lined with a piece of stuff of the same material and color as that of the curtain or screen at the back of the stage. Hanging on the back of the chair is a bag the mouth of which is held open by a ring of tempered wire that does not bend readily, and lying over the back of the chair is an open newspaper. From the "flies," or the ceiling, hangs a nest of four boxes, the outer one being about 12 × 14 × 20 inches. In the smallest or innermost box is a small, white rabbit. Around its neck is tied one end of a ribbon, six or seven inches long, and on the other end is a snap-hook, such as is used on the end of a watch-chain. In closing the boxes, care is taken always to keep this ribbon hanging outside, so that when the largest box is reached at least two inches of ribbon will remain outside. Fastened to the front side of the box, over which the ribbon hangs, is a small hook. This side is kept away from the audience. Finally, the boxes have small holes bored in many places, so as to give the rabbit air. These preliminaries are, of course, arranged before the curtain goes up, and the audience knows nothing of them. When the performer comes on the stage, he begins by asking for a watch, and as he steps down among his audience to borrow one, he stops before some gentleman and, excusing himself, takes from under the man's coat a rabbit, exactly like, in size and color, the one in the box. This rabbit the performer has concealed under the front of his waistcoat. As he steps up to the man from whom he is to take it, he seizes the lapel of the man's coat with his left hand and, stooping slightly, takes the hidden rabbit with his right hand, thrusts it under the man's coat for an instant and withdraws it almost immediately, holding the rabbit high in the air. Then he borrows the watch, and returns to the stage. When the stage is reached, the rabbit is placed on the seat of the chair. Turning toward the audience, the performer comments on the watch: "I see our watch is a second-hand affair. Most watches to-day are made that way." Here he looks at the watch. "I've seen better—now don't misunderstand me—I've seen better tricks done with watches than with any other small article. Now watch this." He throws the watch in the air once or twice, and finally makes a motion of throwing, but retains it in his hand, holding it there by clasping the ring between the thumb and fore-finger, and as he stands with his right side to the audience, and only the back of the hand is seen, they imagine it has disappeared. Afterward he slips the watch into his vest pocket. "Now for the rabbit," he says. Picking it up by its ears, he remarks: "Plucky little creature! It never complains, no matter how much you hurt its feelings. An American, I should say from its pluck. No Welsh rabbit about that." Standing at one side of the chair, the rabbit in his left hand, he opens the newspaper over the back of the chair, and laying the rabbit on it draws the front of the paper toward the left hand so as to cover the rabbit, and as he reaches down as if to take up the overhanging part of the sheet at the back of the chair, the rabbit is dropped into the bag. See Fig. 164. The paper is gathered up in the shape of a bundle, so as to appear as if it held the rabbit, the ends are twisted, and the parcel laid carefully on the seat of the chair. "Now for the crucial
83 moment," exclaims the magician. Picking up the bundle he moves it three times toward the box, and then suddenly smashing the ends together throws it on the floor. The box is lowered, and, while the eyes of the audience are fixed on it, the performer takes the watch from his pocket, and as the box nears the table he reaches out, as if to steady it, and hangs the watch on the hook that is on the front side of the box, which is turned toward the back of the stage. The boxes are opened and piled one on top of the other, and when the last one is reached the watch is taken from where it hangs and hung on the end of the dangling ribbon. See Fig. 165. The last box is opened, and as the rabbit is taken out the ribbon is twisted once or twice around its neck. The squirming creature is then carried down to the owner of the borrowed watch, who identifies his property.
Fig. 164
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Fig. 165 When this trick is exhibited on the stage the performer generally ends it in a very striking way. When he returns to the stage he places the rabbit on a large table at the back of which is an open bag or box. Picking up a pistol, he stands behind the table, his right side turned in the direction of the audience. Catching hold of the rabbit, he tosses it twice in the air, and the third time makes a motion as if to throw it, and at the same moment discharges the pistol. The audience are startled by the report, and before they recover from the shock the rabbit has been thrown into the bag at the back of the table. The rabbit has, apparently, disappeared in midair, and the performer walks toward the footlights bowing his acknowledgments of the applause he is sure to receive. The trick is not yet quite done. Suddenly stopping, the performer smiles and points at a man in the audience, some one seated near the stage. "Ah! sir," he says, "you are trying to play a trick on
85 me, I see. You have something hidden under your coat." Hurrying toward the man on whom all eyes are now turned, the performer pulls open the innocent man's coat as if searching for something. Abandoning the breast, however, after a moment, the performer runs his right arm down the neck of the coat. This gives him the opportunity to get close to the man, and as his (the performer's) body is thus concealed he takes with his left hand a rabbit from a large pocket in the tail of his coat, and thrusts it up the back of the man's coat as far as possible. "Will you help me, sir?" the performer asks some one seated near; and as the audience look at the new assistant, the performer reaches down the back of the first man's coat and pulls out the rabbit. It is not very polite to the rabbit, but as for the performer—well, the audience applaud and shout with laughter. Of course, the performer apologizes to the man who has been somewhat roughly handled. There is another popular form of the Nest of Boxes, which to an audience seems almost identical with the one just described, but is entirely different in its manipulation. A large box hangs from a support of some kind from the moment the curtain goes up. When the performer reaches the trick in his program, he goes down among the audience holding in his right hand, by one end, a little stick, the wand of the conjurer, and asks for the loan of four or five finger-rings from some ladies. As they are offered he extends the wand with the request that the rings be slipped on it, "so that I do not handle them." When he has borrowed the required number he returns to the stage, and on his way, grasping the other end of the wand with his left hand, he tilts the borrowed rings into it and allows a number of brass rings, which have been concealed in his right hand, to take their place on the stick. These rings he drops on a plate from the stick. The plate lies on the stage near the footlights, and directly under it is a hole. See Fig. 166. The performer immediately picks up the plate with his left hand, and as he stoops to do this he drops the borrowed rings into the hole in the stage, where they are received by one of his assistants, who hurries off to place them in the little box in which they are finally found
86 Fig. 166 Picking up an old-fashioned horse-pistol,—which he informs the audience was originally a Colt's,—the performer drops one of the rings into the barrel and rams it down. He pretends to find the next ring too large and batters it with a hammer, to the delight of every one in the audience except the owners of the rings. "There, that will go in now," he says, and rams it down. So he continues, until all the rings are in the pistol. Pointing at the box that is hanging in full sight, he remarks, "This is one of my aims in life. Let us hope it will succeed," and bang! goes the pistol. As the barrel of this particular pistol is disconnected from the hammer and the trigger, merely a cap explodes, but that answers every purpose. While the attention of the audience was directed to the performer during the loading of the rings into the pistol, a small table was run on the stage from the wings. In the top of this table is an opening of a size to admit a small box, which rests on a shelf under the table top. When in position, the top of this box comes flush with the top of the table. When the performer takes down the box at which he fired the pistol, he places it on this table, unlocks it, for effect, and takes from it a second box. So he goes on, taking one box from another until he has three or four stacked up. Finally he reaches a box that is bottomless. This he places over the opening in the table top, unlocks the box, and reaching down takes up the box that is in the opening and walks toward the footlights, box in hand. He unlocks this and finds still another box which, when opened, reveals the borrowed rings, each attached to a small nosegay. He carries these to the owners, who identify their property. Returning to his stage, the performer picks up a champagne-bottle, with the remark: "As some slight return for your kindness in lending me your rings, I am going to ask you to have a glass of wine with me. What shall it be? Anything you please. My bottle here will supply all kinds." Just then he pretends to hear a call from the audience. "What is that? One of the rings has not been returned? Too bad, too bad! But I'll see about it after I have satisfied the thirst of our friends here. Now then, what shall it be? Wine, brandy, whisky, Old Crow, forty-rod, Jersey lightning, instant death? What you like." Holding a tiny wine-glass, filled with water, in one hand and the bottle in the other, he asks the first person he comes to what he will have. Pretending to hear a call for water, he says, "Water? Certainly, sir; pure Adam's ale," as he goes through the motions of filling the glass, but covering the mouth of the bottle with his fingers so that nothing comes out. "The real article, is it not?" and he throws what is left on the floor. He passes rapidly from one to another and gives each one, serving, perhaps, half a dozen, some sweetened whisky—the same to all, no matter what is asked for, but calling out the name of a different liquor each time. He serves only a sip at a time, for it is only the neck of the bottle, which is plugged at the bottom, that contains the liquor. When through with this farce, the performer returns to the stage and, calling for a hammer and a tray, breaks the bottle, and behold! inside is a wriggling little guinea-pig with a ribbon round its neck, to which is attached the missing ring and a tiny bouquet. For a simple trick nothing is more effective than this one. To prepare the bottle, the bottom is first removed. This may be done by tapping it gently with a hammer or it may be cut off by a glassworker. In the first case, which is the better, a false bottom of wood or tin is used; in the second, the bottle is cemented together with a little shellac varnish, colored with lampblack. Here and there a hole is drilled in the sides of the bottle to give air to the pig. While the bottom is off, a plug
87 is fitted tightly inside the bottle near the neck, and melted paraffin is poured over it to prevent any leak. It is in the space between this plug and the mouth of the bottle that the liquor is held. In the lower part of the bottle the guinea-pig, with the ring attached to it, is placed by the performer's assistant, who closes the bottle and hands it to the performer. In a later method of preparing the bottle much time, trouble and expense are saved. The upper part of the bottle, including the neck and about a quarter of the body, is of copper. Inside, a little below the neck, is a solid bottom, and to this is soldered the metal cover of a fruit-preserving glass jar (the kind known as a "Mason Jar"). Through this cover, leading to the outside of the metal bottle, where it ends in a hole, is a metal tube, to afford air to the guinea-pig. Into this cover, the jar itself, which is painted black inside, is screwed. It fits well up into the metal body and completes its form. With a wine label on the outside, its appearance is most deceptive. The pig is put into the jar before it is screwed in place. In exhibiting the trick the jar is broken with a hammer. To replace it is less than half the cost of a champagne bottle, and is no trouble.
88 The Indian basket
Description A wicker basket, long and narrow, is used for this trick (if only to make the name authentic). An assistant is placed in the basket and it is covered with a blanket, and the whole has a leather strap buckled around it. The performer takes his magic sword and stabs the basket here and there, and the sword comes out dripping with blood. The basket is then opened, revealing that is empty and there's no blood — and the assistant (whole and uninjured) sneaks up behind the performer and taps him on the shoulder. Startlement and giggles!
Execution
89 As the first diagram shows, the basket has a double bottom-front side combination — ABC in the diagram. This is moveable — that's to say it isn't attached to the rest of the basket. When the basket is rolled over, a quarter-turn towards the audience, the double bottom remains as it is, held in place by the weight of the assistant — as in the second diagram. Thus the assistant is left outside the basket and can leave the stage: the basket is then rolled back. The side AB must be identical in appearance to the rest of the basket. The blood is supplied by a few small sponges soaked in any red liquid.
Comments This trick is difficult to stage. The stage must be set so that there is sufficient clutter that the assistance can exit unseen from behind the basket: or the back of the stage must be sufficiently dark for the same reason. Finding a good reason to tip the basket towards the audience and then back requires imagination. And arranging things so that the basket can be covered with the blanket and then strapped up, without impeding the false bottom, requires careful execution. This trick, originally seen by Western travelers in India (thus the name), was always performed out of doors, with lots of people, assistants, and distractions of all sorts around. The assistant was a small child, who could hide in the magician's robes while the basket was tipped forward, and then slip away when assistants gathered round for distraction. And there was always lots of shouting and unnecessary acting by the magician and the assistant, to divert the spectators' attention from the important instants of the performance.
90 Cotton
Take a piece of any colour, 12in. to 15in. long, and see that one of the audience is provided with a very sharp penknife. Double the cotton once, and have the bend cut quite through. Double again and have it cut, and repeat the operation until it is nothing but pieces, each barely a third of an inch long. Rub the pieces together in the fingers, and, after a short time, quietly draw out the cotton again as it was in the first instance. That is what you must ostensibly do: now for how to do it. First of all, have concealed between your finger and thumb a piece of cotton about the length above mentioned. This you must roll up small, and deliberately hold between your finger and thumb, or, better still, if the fingers be sufficiently large, between the tips of any two fingers, as they are more naturally kept together. Nobody will notice it if the hand is engaged in negligently holding the lappel of your coat, the wand, &c. I need hardly mention that the concealed piece must be of the same colour as that operated upon, as the production of a white in place of a black piece would scarcely be satisfactory. To ensure the success of this preliminary, some considerable manœuvring has often to be gone through, and no small amount of tact exhibited. Where you are showing the trick for the first time, you can of course ask for any coloured cotton you please (always choose black when you have a choice), but it is such a fascinating trick that you will be called upon to perform it over and over again in the same house, or before the same people—which is quite as bad—and you will find that all kinds of ingenious devices will be brought to bear upon you. As a commencement, always carry in the corners of your waistcoat pockets two black and two white pieces, ready for emergencies. Each pocket will contain two pieces of the same colour, but differing in thickness, one in each corner. It is useless to carry other colours on the mere chance, as you are sure to be unprovided with the exact one required at the moment. When coloured cotton is produced, you must, by some means or other, get at the reel from which the cotton is taken. If driven right into a corner, you must go so far as to ask someone (always let it be the master or mistress of the house) to secretly obtain a piece for you; but this you will have to resort to on rare occasions only. Make all sorts of excuses so as to cause a delay, even going so far as to postpone the performance of the trick, but not before you have seen what colour you are likely to be favoured with. Your wits must do the rest. The reader must remember that I have taken extreme cases, and such as but rarely occur; but still they do occur, and if I did not warn the beginner of pitfalls ahead, he would not think much of my teaching. In the ordinary way, he will be able to ask for any colour he pleases, which will of course be similar to that with which he is provided. We will suppose that everything has progressed favourably. Take the cotton to be cut between the thumb and forefinger of each hand, by the extreme ends, and, doubling it, let one hand hold the loop to be cut, the fingers of the other hand holding the ends. As soon as the knife has passed through the cotton, give it a "twitch," and bring the ends, of which there will now be four, quickly together, as if you had performed some very intricate manœuvre. Of course, you have really done nothing at all, the movement being only a deceptive one to lead the spectators to believe that the secret of the trick consists in the way in which you twist or double the cotton. Have this in mind all through the trick, and keep up the deception. Continue to double the cotton, taking the greatest care that the ends all come neatly together, and that all the loops are cut through. Do everything with the greatest deliberation (except the delusive "twitch"), for there is no occasion for any hurry. When the cotton is cut so small that it will not double any
91 more, commence to knead in the fingers, and gradually work the fragments behind the concealed piece, which must be brought to the front. This you will do without once removing the hands from the full view of the audience—in fact, under their very eyes. When you feel quite sure that everything is snug and secure, commence to unravel the whole piece, which will pass for the resuscitated original. People who have seen the trick performed before will sometimes suggest that the piece of cotton should be measured before being cut up. Allow this to be done with all the grace in the world (when you find that you cannot do otherwise), but, before operating upon it, roll it up in the fingers, either absently, whilst engaging the audience in conversation, or for the purpose of seeing if it is of the proper dimensions, and exchange it, unperceived, for the concealed piece, which will be cut up instead. Although it is not advisable to have the cotton measured first, yet, when it is done, it invariably adds lustre to the feat. The pieces must never be carelessly thrown away, but secreted in a pocket on the first opportunity that presents itself, and afterwards burnt. Rings can be made use of in many tricks, both in the drawing-room and on the stage. The following will be found very neat and effective: Procure a metal imitation of a wedding-ring, and have it cut neatly through. Pass this ring under a single thread of your handkerchief near one of the corners. Borrow a lady's ring, which palm, under pretence of putting it in the handkerchief. (The best method for palming a ring is to hold it between two fingers at the roots.) This you will appear to have done if you give the false ring (under cover of the handkerchief) to be held by someone who is not the owner of the borrowed article. It is immaterial whether the genuine ring has a fancy head or not, as the back of it will usually be about the width of a wedding-ring. Take the wand in the hand, and, unperceived, slip the ring in your palm over it until it reaches the middle, still covered by the hand. Now ask two persons to hold the wand, one at either end, and lay the handkerchief containing the false ring (still held from the outside by the original holder) over it. If you now remove your hand, you will leave the ring on the wand still concealed by the handkerchief (Fig. 22). Take hold of the end of th handkerchief which hangs down below the wand, and instruct the person holding the false ring to leave go when you count "three." As soon as you are obeyed, draw the handkerchief smartly across the wand. This will cause the ring to spin round, and assist materially in inducing the audience to believe that it was actually conjured from the handkerchief on to the wand whilst the latter article was being held at either end by two people. A slight jerk will detach the false ring from the handkerchief, which you can send round to be examined. A hint I can give the learner is, never to ask a lady to lend you her wedding-ring or keeper. Many ladies are exceedingly superstitious, and feel embarrassed when asked, from not liking to refuse, and yet being unwilling to take their rings from their fingers. Always borrow a ring the back of which nearly, if not quite, matches your false article in substance.
92
Fig. 22. Procure a metal ring, similar to the one used in the last trick, of very soft brass, and, when you have cut it through, sharpen up the two ends to points with a file, or any other way you please. Borrow a lady's ring, and exchange it, as in last trick, putting the false one in a handkerchief, which have tied with tape or string in such a manner that the ring is contained in a bag. If the borrowed ring is narrow all round, you may make use of your nest of boxes, if it has not been previously utilised in some other trick; it being a golden rule among conjurors never to use the same apparatus twice during the same evening. An apple (a potato, small loaf, &c., will do as well) can be used instead with effect, if a goodly slit be made in it, and the ring pushed in while you are taking it from your bag or from behind the screen. Show the apple round, boldly saying that everyone can see that there is no preparation about it, at the same time taking care that no one has time to decide either one way or the other from the rapidity with which you pass it about. Place it in a prominent position, and then take the handkerchief containing the false ring by the bag, allowing the ends to fall over and conceal your hands. Quickly unbend the ring, and, working one of the pointed ends through the handkerchief, draw it out, and rub the place of exit between your fingers, so as to obliterate all traces of it. All this you must do very quickly, and, dropping the handkerchief on the floor, say, "Without untying the string, I have abstracted the ring, which I now pass into that apple." Here make a pass. Take a knife in the hand holding the false ring (unless you have been clever enough to get rid of that article), and, showing the audience that the other hand is quite empty, proceed to cut open the apple slowly. When the knife touches the ring, allow it to "clink" upon it as much as possible, and call attention to the fact, as it is a great feature in the trick. Do not cut the apple completely through, but, taking it forward (on a plate is the best way), allow the owner of the ring to take it out with her own hand. Of course, the audience must not be allowed to handle the apple, and so discover the old slit. This trick should not be performed with the preceding one, but on another evening. The principal effect of the trick is the apparent abstraction of the borrowed ring from its confinement in the handkerchief in an incomprehensible manner, and you must, therefore, allow the audience to see that the ring undoubtedly is tied up securely in the first instance.
93 Another trick with a ring is performed by aid of the wand only. Borrow a good stout ring, a signet for example, and, holding it near the roots of the fingers of the right hand, pretend to pass it over the wand, but, in reality, let it slide along on the outside of it, and still keep it in the hand. The deception is assisted if the ring be first carelessly placed upon the wand, and taken off again, two or three times. Say to one of the audience, "Will you be so kind as to hold one end of the wand with either hand?" and, in stretching the wand out towards him, allow the left hand momentarily to pass close under the right, and let the ring fall into it—of course, unperceived. If you look at your hands whilst doing this, you are a lost man. You must look the addressee boldly in the face, and thereby divert attention to him—not that there is the slightest excuse for exposing the ring during its passage from one hand to the other. When the wand is firmly held at both ends, say something about the futility of strength in certain cases, and eventually show the ring in the left hand, and remove the right from the wand to show that it is empty. If relinquished at this stage, the trick is very incomplete, as the audience usually divine, or affect to divine, that the ring never was put upon the wand at all. It is a peculiarity of this trick that this remark is almost invariably made, so the conjuror must be prepared with something still more "staggering." Return the ring to its owner, and call attention to the fact that you have not cut it in any way (not that anyone will ever think that you would do so, but you must assume that this idea is prevailing in the minds of the audience), and secretly take from your pocket, or wherever it may be concealed, a thick metal (or gold) ring, which keep in the left hand. Borrow the ring again, and slide it over the wand with precisely the same movement which you used in the first instance, when you did not put the ring on. This time you must appear to be very clumsy, and let the two hands come together so that everyone can see the action clearly, and snatch the left hand away sharply as if it contained the ring. You will doubtless see a number of heads lean towards each other, and hear a good deal of loud whispering, in which the words "left hand" will be conspicuous. Take no notice of this beyond looking as confused as possible, and the audience will think they have bowled you out at last. The strange part of it is that, in a trick of this kind, a spectator who fancies, rightly or wrongly, that he has discovered something, never attributes the fact to your want of skill, but to his own remarkable powers of perception. The effect of the ruse will be heightened if you allow a tiny portion of the false ring to catch the eye of one or more of the audience; or resort to any other artifice to induce them to believe that you really have the borrowed ring in the left hand, and have allowed the fact to transpire through carelessness. Now say that, the ring being securely on the wand, you mean to take it off as before, and give the two ends of the wand to be held. You will then appear to notice the incredulous looks and remarks of the audience for the first time, and stoutly deny that the ring is in the left hand, which, however, you decline to open. Allow the audience to argue the point with you, and, when one has said that he saw you take the ring in the left hand, and others have made a similar statement, pretend to give in, and say that you must admit that you are discovered; but, at the same time, you feel it incumbent on you to do something to retrieve your character. You will, therefore, pass the ring, now in the left hand, invisibly on to the wand. Make a pass with the left hand, and draw the right smartly away from the wand, causing the ring on it to spin round. The effect may be imagined. At the instant the right hand leaves the wand, the left should place the false ring (supposing one is used) in the pocket, as all manner of questions will be asked afterwards. The trick can be varied in many ways, by confusing the spectators. Peripatetic conjurors make a good deal of money by means of this trick, by betting that the ring is either on or off the wand. Manner has a great deal to do with the success of it.
94 Invoking ghosts
Description Two examples of the use of a large sheet of plate glass. 1) A vertical coffin is set up on the stage. A member of the audience is invited to participate: s/he steps into the coffin and steps on to an adjustable platform in it, which is moved up or down so that the top of his/her head is at exactly the right height. S/he is then swathed with a sheet so that only his/her head is visible. The performer makes the appropriate gestures or invocations, and the person fades out to be replaced by a skeleton. The performer repeats the invocation backwards or reverses the sequence of the gestures and the skeleton disappears and the person is back. 2) A table with cloth is set up on the stage. Again, a member of the audience is invited up and seated to the left of the table (as seen from the audience). After appropriate spell-casting, a ghost appears and attempts to interact with the person: offer him/her a glass of wine, perhaps, or flirt, or (shudder) blow smoke in his/her face; but of course the person perceives nothing. At last, in disgust, the ghost gives up and disappears. In both cases, the performer asks the person what the experience was like; naturally s/he reports that nothing happened, so it's only fair that someone else comes up and repeats the experience.
Execution
95 In both illusions, there's a sheet of plate glass (absolutely clean) placed diagonally in front of the coffin or table. The figure illustrates how the first illusion is created. The coffin is illuminated by lights off to one side, which the audience can't see. The skeleton is suspended off to one side as shown; it's illustrated also by lights that the audience can't see, and of course the invited person can't see the skeleton due to the construction of the set. To begin with, the lights around the skeleton are dark, but to create the illusion they are brought up to full brilliance at the same time as the ones beside the coffin are darkened. As long as the total amount of illumination remains pretty well the same the audience won't perceive any difference; it the set is constructed properly the person in the coffin won't perceive much difference either. The skeleton is reflected onto the glass and completely obliterates sight of the person in the coffin. The second illusion is similar, except that the scene off to the side (where the "ghosts" appear), is not separately illuminated; lights at the side of the set are turned up and the light level is sufficient to do the reflection. Again, because of the construction of the set, neither the audience or the person can see the "ghosts" and their actions.
Comments In both illusions, the audience members will have to come up in to the stage on their right, so that they can be guided to the coffin or table without perceiving the sheet of glass. Care will also be needed in the construction of the set to ensure that the position of the skeleton or ghost is not visible as the volunteer comes on stage. In the first illusion, some patter will have to be devised to cover the adjustment of the position of the head: perhaps something like making sure that all the audience can see things properly, or (risky) that the dead can only come through at a particular point in space; the real reason being that as long as the head of the person and the skull pretty closely coincide the illusion will work. Otherwise audience members will see both the head and the skull and that won't do. But it is permissible to change the appearance of the skeleton somewhat between the first and second volunteers. Likewise, in the second illusion a second assistant can be used: perhaps the ghost can be of the other sex to the volunteer each time. The original description of these illusions has them as part of a tour: a macabre cafe to begin with, where visitors sit at a coffin and have orders taken by an undertaker; the second and third rooms are the illusions described here. A person dressed in Charon's likeness originally conducted the volunteers to the coffin but these days some better-known personage must be employed. Mournful music and melancholy bells sound as the people proceed. But each of the illusions stand on their own feet and can be performed in isolation — but not in the same show.
96 A Silk Handkerchief Placed in a Cornucopia Disappears, and is Found Tied Around a Candle A candle and candlestick, entirely without preparation, are shown for examination, and, afterward, the candle is placed in the candlestick, which is stood upon a table. A large handkerchief is then thrown over the candle. A piece of thin wrapping paper, in size about fifteen by twenty inches, is twisted into a cornucopia; a small red silk handkerchief is placed over one end of the performer's wand and is pushed into the cornucopia, which is then closed, and handed to one of the audience to hold, with the request that he assists in the trick. A pistol is fired and when the assistant is asked to tear open the cornucopia, he finds, to his surprise, that it is empty. The large handkerchief is taken off the candle, and the missing handkerchief is seen to be tied round the candle. For this novel trick the following "properties" are needed: An unprepared candle. A candlestick, also unprepared. A small pin. Two red silk handkerchiefs, each about fourteen inches square. Exactly in the center of one of these is sewed a little patch of the same silk, about the size of a quarter-dollar. A piece of brass tubing, one and an eighth inches long, that fits easily over the candle. It is covered on the outside with a piece of the same silk as the red handkerchiefs. Around this tubing is tied the handkerchief that has no patch on it. A piece of thin wrapping paper, fifteen by twenty inches large. A wand, that consists of two parts; one part is a piece of thin brass tubing, nine-sixteenths of an inch in diameter and about sixteen inches long, one end of which is closed. The other part is a heavy, stiff wire, wound around with black tape; at the top is a small piece of wood, painted black; at the bottom, the wire is fitted into a pear-shaped piece of brass, that goes into a piece of brass tubing, three-quarters of an inch long, the same as used for the first part of the wand. This tubing is closed at the lower end. When the wire is placed inside the long tube, and the whole is pushed close, it resembles an ordinary wand. See Fig. 115. Every part of it is black, the outside of a mat or dull color.
97
Fig. 115 No. 1 is the wand complete. No. 2 is the long piece of tubing which forms the outside. No. 3 is the wire that goes inside No. 2.
Fig. 116 On one side of the candle, at about the center, is stuck the pin,. so that it projects about a quarter of an inch. Around the silk-covered piece of tubing is tied the red handkerchief, as seen in Fig. 116. The loose ends are brought up and tucked inside the tubing at the top, as shown in Fig. 116. The candle and candlestick, together with the wand, the piece of paper, the red silk handkerchief, with the patch, and the large handkerchief, that is to cover the candle are on a table. Behind the latter and hidden by it is the prepared piece of tubing. This large handkerchief ought to be about eighteen inches square, and of thin green silk with a colored pattern running through it. A white handkerchief is apt to show something of the red handkerchief around the candle, but with the green it is invisible.
98
The Cornucopia. To begin the trick, the performer shows the candlestick and the candle, without allowing them to be handled, being careful to hide the pin. Then he puts the candle in the candlestick, which he places on a table. Picking up the green handkerchief, he simultaneously palms the prepared tubing in his right hand. The large handkerchief is shown, front and back, and is then thrown over the candle. In doing this the performer's thumbs are about six inches apart and are on top of the handkerchief, with the fingers underneath. See Fig. 117. Under cover of the handkerchief, he seizes the prepared tubing, in the right palm, with the first and third fingers of the left hand, his right hand fingers helping him to hold it. He is careful to keep the tubing erect, with the part into which the ends of the red handkerchief are tucked at the top. As he covers the candle, he slips the tubing over it. See Fig. 118. The ends of the tucked-in in handkerchief are thus pushed out and freed, and the tubing slides down of its own weight, until its lower edge rests on the pin. Then he twists the paper into a cornucopia; when properly made it should be eighteen or twenty inches long, with the open end about four inches in diameter. He turns up the lower end a few inches.
99
Fig. 117 Showing the tubing held between the fingers, with the ends of the handkerchief projecting at the top.
Fig. 118 Showing how the piece of tubing is held when about to slip it over the candle. Picking up the wand, he rattles it inside the cornucopia, as if to show that it is empty. As he does this, his left hand takes hold, from the outside of the cornucopia, of the lower end of the wand, so that it will remain inside, when the outer part of the wand is pulled out. So that the two parts may separate easily, the fake end may be drawn out a trifle beforehand, and, as the whole wand is black, that will not be noticed. The performer lays the cornucopia on the table and as he places it with the top toward the audience, the fake is not seen.
100 Picking up the red handkerchief, he lays the patch on the open end of the wand and holds it in place with his right hand. Taking the cornucopia in his left hand, he pushes the handkerchief into it in such a way that the end of the wire fake will enter the open end of the wand. He presses the wand down a little way, which causes the handkerchief to enter the tubing, and at the same moment he releases his hold of the handkerchief. It will now expand and fill the top part of the cornucopia, completely concealing the wire fake. At this point the open side of the cornucopia should be toward the audience. The performer's left hand, which is holding the lower end of the cornucopia and keeps the wire fake in position, is far away from his body. He presses the wand down slowly, thus working the handkerchief further into it, and, finally, turns the open end of the cornucopia upward and presses the wand down all the way, close on the fake. As the handkerchief is now out of sight, he removes the wand from the cornucopia, which he closes, by folding over the top, and gives to some one to hold. Then follows the firing of the pistol, as already described, the tearing apart of the cornucopia, and the revealing of the red handkerchief, apparently tied around the candle, as shown in Fig. 119.
Fig. 119
101 The effect of the trick may be heightened, by allowing the audience, at the beginning of the trick, to select a handkerchief from a lot of four, each of a different color. The selection is made by the cast of a die, as explained here. A correspondent of L'Illusioniste, M. Caroly's interesting little magazine, suggests an improvement on the "wand" used in his trick, which commends itself by its simplicity. It consists of a tube of black hard rubber, or other material, of the size of the ordinary wand used by the conjurer, with ivory or silver-plated ferrules or caps at the ends, so that it may look as much like a wand as possible. One ferrule is closed at the end, the other is open, giving free access to the interior of the tube. In the center of the closed end is a tiny hole, through which runs a fine, black silk thread about one yard and a half in length, leaving equal lengths at each end of the tube. The end of the silk at the closed end of the wand is fastened to the front edge of the table; the other end is tied to the center of the handkerchief that is to disappear. Both handkerchief and tube lie on the table. When the cornucopia is formed, the performer standing back of the table drops the handkerchief into it, so all may see it, and as if to push it further in he picks up the wand and inserts the open end in the mouth of the cornucopia. Then holding it up with one hand and the wand with the other he walks backward a step or two, when the end of the thread that is fastened to the table will, naturally draw the handkerchief up into the tube.
102 The Transit of Old Glory This brilliant little trick has the great advantage that it is as well suited for the drawing-room, that is for exhibition in a private house or at a club, as for the stage. The performer comes forward with half a sheet of note-paper in one hand. "I have here," he says, "a piece of paper, the product of that great magician, the paper-maker, who turns beggars' rags into sheets for editors to lie on. There is nothing concealed here, as you may see," he turns the paper, so as to show it back and front. "But see! I roll it up for a moment." Suiting the action to the word, he rolls the paper till it is about the thickness of a finger, "and now, tearing it in two, this little flag appears." He spreads out the flag and crumpling up the paper, throws it aside. "Pretty isn't it? It's small, but it covers a lot of ground." Throwing the flag over the back of a chair, he picks up two silk handkerchiefs, a red and a dark blue, ties a corner of one to a corner of the other, bunches them together, and places them in an empty goblet. "So far, so good," he continues. "Now, let me show you this pocket." He turns out the right side pocket of his trousers. "Empty! like every conjurer's pockets." He puts it back in place, and rolling up his right sleeve, so that nothing can be concealed there, slowly puts the little flag into the empty pocket. "See what I shall do. By simply repeating certain incantations, handed down to us from the days of Nostradamus, I shall cause the flag to leave my pocket and take its place between the handkerchiefs now tied together. And this without hiding the goblet from your sight for one moment. Listen! Chiddy biddy bee, chiddy biddy bi, chiddy biddy bo. (And let us say, parenthetically, that when you are versed in these mysteries, other words may be substituted for these.) And now you will please observe that my pocket is empty." As he says this, he pulls out the pocket, and to his surprise and mortification the flag comes out with it. "Dear me!" he exclaims, "how very embarrassing. Something has gone wrong. Evidently a misquotation. Ah! how stupid of me. I forgot to give the flag the necessary wherewithal to defray traveling expenses." He replaces the flag in his pocket, and pretending to take a piece of money from his waistcoat pocket he puts it in the pocket that contains the flag. Then with a simple command "Go!" he catches hold of an end of each handkerchief in the goblet, and giving them a sharp jerk and a shake, shows that the flag has taken its place between the handkerchiefs and is firmly tied to them. Again turning his pocket inside out, it is seen to be empty, and the trick is done as promised. But how is it done? Read attentively and you'll know. First, as to the production of the flag. Taking a piece of saffron-colored tissue-paper, technically known as "Havana color," the performer makes of it a long, narrow bag, as near the shape of a finger as possible, rounded and closed at one end and open at the other. Into this he gently pushes a small sheer silk flag. If this be placed between the second and third fingers of the left hand and the fingers held close to each other it will be a keen-eyed one, indeed, who will detect that the performer has one more finger than he is entitled to. When rolling up the sheet of note-paper, it is folded round the hand and the paper "finger" is left inside. Tearing the note-paper in two, the flag is revealed. The crumpled up paper is then thrown aside for the moment, only to be carefully picked up later, lest some inquisitive body should take a notion to examine it, and finding the yellow paper inside get some inkling of the secret of the trick. A false finger of flesh colored sheer muslin may be substituted for the one of tissue paper, and with it an additional effect may be produced. This finger is rolled in the paper as already described. By giving the paper a fillip with a finger the flag will gradually make its
103 appearance at the open end, crawling up, as it were. When it is entirely out, the performer presses the paper together, keeping the false finger inside. The paper is then crumpled up and disposed of as told. Before the flag is put into the pocket the first time it is rolled into a ball. The second time the performer pushes it with his right thumb into the upper part of the pocket near the band of the trousers, and as far toward the center of the band as possible. The other fingers go down toward the bottom of the pocket. With the flag so stowed away, the pocket may be turned inside out, and will appear to be empty. Opposite one corner of the blue handkerchief a square of the same silk, measuring three and a half inches, is sewed so as to make a pocket, with the opening toward the corner and about two and a half inches from it. A triangular-shaped piece of the same blue silk, five inches long and three inches wide at its greatest width is sewed to the corner A of the flag, while the corner B is sewed on to the blue handkerchief, between the mouth of the pocket and the corner, as shown in Fig. 113. Into the pocket the flag is tucked, beginning with the corner C, leaving the end of the triangular piece sticking out.
Fig. 113 When these preparations are completed the trick may be shown.
Fig. 114 The dotted lines represent the corner of the blue handkerchief, which is folded into the two knots. Picking up the blue handkerchief with his left hand the performer holds it so that its folds conceal the pocket and its contents. Then taking the red handkerchief in his right hand he, apparently, ties one corner of it to a corner of the other. In reality, however, the actual corner of the blue handkerchief is folded back and held down behind the fingers of the left hand, and in its stead the
104 triangular piece of blue silk that sticks out of the pocket is tied to the red handkerchief with two knots; as soon as the first knot is made, the actual corner of the blue handkerchief is brought up from behind the fingers and the second knot is tied over it (as shown in the illustration, Fig. 114), and tied tightly, thus keeping the flag securely in the pocket. Then the performer wraps the two handkerchiefs together and puts them in a goblet with a corner of each hanging out. At the proper moment he grasps these corners and giving them a quick jerk the flag is pulled out of the pocket and is seen tied, apparently, between the two handkerchiefs. Instead of a prepared handkerchief and flag, as described, some conjurers rely on an exchange of packages, and when skillfully carried out this is much the more artistic way. For such an exchange, a small shelf is hung at the back of a chair. On this lies a package made up of a red and a blue handkerchief with a flag tied between them, care being taken that the flag is concealed within the folds of the handkerchiefs. Alongside the shelf is a small black bag, its mouth being held open by a wire run round it in a seam. In showing the trick the performer deliberately and actually ties the two handkerchiefs together at one corner and rolls them into a package similar to the one on the shelf. The flag used in the trick is lying on the back of the chair, and as the performer picks it up with his right hand, his left, that holds the original package, passes for a second only behind the chair, but in that time it grips the shelf package and drops the original into the bag. There is no hesitation, no waiting, but in the twinkling of an eye the change is made.
105
Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 1 By Nate Leipzig Part 1 of the Saga of a Master Magician I was born in Stockholm, Sweden, on May 31, 1873. My full name is Nathan Leipziger. I was the third youngest of a family of eight children, seven boys and one girl. My father was born in Russia and my mother in Utica, N. Y. As I have been told, my grandfather, whom I never saw, left a small town in Russia with my father when the latter was very young, and settled in Stockholm, Sweden. My father decided to strike out for himself and came to America. One of the first towns he went to was Utica, N. Y., and there he met my mother, courted her and married her. My mother's family name is Edloff. They lived in Nate Leipzig in 1904 Utica for nearly four years and my two oldest brothers were born there; then my grandfather died in Stockholm and the family moved back to Sweden, to the city of Malmo where my only sister was born. Later they moved hack to Stockholm where the rest of the boys were born, and lived there for some sixteen years. Later my father failed in business through the shortcomings of a partner and in 1881 my father and my oldest brother Hyman left for America, and shortly after their arrival the latter went to Waxathia, Texas, to work for a relative, Mr. H. Brin. A year later my father sent for us all to join him. I can remember very vividly our trip across. We left the first week in May, 1882 on the S.S. Cassius, the first boat ever to go direct from Stockholm to N. Y. City, and although it was a steamer it took us nearly three weeks to make the journey. My father met us in New York and we spent the night at the house of a friend. The next day we left for Detroit, Michigan, where my father had arranged accommodation and we lived next door to my mother's sister and family, Mrs. M. T. Davis. When things had gone well with us in Stockholm my father was very anxious for the children to have a good education so at least the five older ones had that great advantage of good schooling and particularly in music. We always had good music at home for both my oldest brother and my sister were accomplished pianists and my brother Simon played the violin. Three particular traits ran through our family, drawing, music and magic, and
106 especially drawing, for when we were small all of us had the inclination to draw. I remember at school that several of my brothers and myself were often called upon to illustrate a subject by drawings on the blackboard. Where this trait came from I don't know, since neither of my parents were gifted in that way; however, I do remember my brother saying that her uncle was considered one of the finest steel engravers of his day. This talent was exploited only by my brothers Fred and Leo. Years later Fred became famous as a cartoonist and for over twenty years was on the staff of the Detroit Evening News. Later he devised a cartoon called The Doings of the Van Loon Family. This was the first of the family cartoons, since so widely copied, and ran for eighteen years, being handled by the McClure Syndicate. With regard to magic, I was really the only one to take it up seriously, although I never dreamed that it would become my life work. Leo, who was pretty good with the pencil, has also become quite proficient with tricks. My youngest brother Ernst also liked to dabble in magic. This I attribute to my mother's oldest brother who had once been with a circus and who sometimes did some tricks for us. Where the music came from is a mystery to me as I was only nine years old when we came to Detroit. Of course I had to go to school since I had had only two seasons at school in Stockholm. The family was not too prosperous until the boys grew up. I had to start work when I was twelve years old as an errand boy at $1.50 per week with the firm of L. Black & Co., opticians. After a year as errand boy I was asked if I would like to go upstairs into the factory and learn how to grind lenses and repair all kinds of optical goods. I agreed to do so and so began that kind of work. The foreman over me was a man named Max Redelsheimer and he was quite a character. Before he became an optician he had been ticket-seller at the Coliseum Theater in Detroit. He had the reputation of being the lightning ticket seller of the world. In the summer he still sold tickets at the baseball park and he was able to take care of the biggest crowds singlehanded. He had an uncanny faculty of detecting a counterfeit bill by simply spreading his hand across it and feeling some almost imperceptible difference in the paper. He told me once of a match that was arranged between him and Ben Busby, Barnum and Bailey's famous ticket-seller. He claimed that Busby backed out at the last moment. In the meantime I had become quite proficient with a lot of pocket tricks and naturally I was invited out a good deal, though I didn't care much for social events. I preferred going out with the boys, having a few beers and making a good time by entertaining strangers. At this time I met a boy named Gunther who could do a few tricks of a rather crude nature, but he could do no sleights at all. This was easy to understand as he worked in an iron foundry and the work naturally made his hands very stiff. But what intrigued me was that he had several pieces of magical apparatus and he told me I could use them any time I wanted them. Up to that time I had never played any dates for an audience of more than a dozen people. In the meantime my brother George, who was very clever at writing parodies and singing comic songs, joined a man called Dick Porter and they became quite well known through taking part in various local shows. In a short time there was quite a call for
107 my act and also my brother's. He has become widely known as a raconteur and singer and for many years there was hardly any affair in Detroit where talent was required that a Leipzig wasn't on the bill. Some of these performances were paid for but most of them, of course, were benefits. We had some funny experiences at a show given by some Polish boys up in what was called Polocktown. I was engaged to entertain as an added attraction, but I was warned by a friend that most likely I would not be paid. So when I arrived at the hall I went to one of the boys who was running the show, and told him I needed ten half dollars as I intended to do the money catching trick and though I was very doubtful the ruse would succeed, it worked. So I had my five dollars, the fee for my show, before I started and probably it was well that I had for the attendance was not very good. Another time I booked a date at Clawson Hall where I was to give a half hour's show for a fee of ten dollars. This was the biggest sum offered to me up to that time so to be prepared I had to borrow a few tricks from Gunther. I had two weeks' time to prepare for the show. So one Sunday morning I jumped on my bicycle to ride to Gunther's place for he lived quite a distance from my home. I was all dressed up, new light suit, tan shoes and straw hat. On arrival at Gunther's he at once agreed to lend me anything I needed, so I borrowed the nest of boxes and a set of spirit slates. He tied these together, put them under my arm, and I mounted my bicycle and started for home. However, only a block away the tragedy happened. In trying to dodge a tin can lying in the road, the lid caught in the spokes, the bike bucked and shot me over the handlebars. Landing on my head. my hat was smashed, both knees of my new suit were torn away, my shoes were cut as well as my knees and left hand AND the spirit slates were broken to pieces. I was a sad mess as I went limping back to Gunther. He sympathized with me, told me not to worry about the slates, that he would fix up an other set for me. He straightened the front wheel of my bike, which had been badly bent, so I was able to ride home, where my parents soundly scolded me when they found I was not badly hurt. It took me about a week to recover, but my show finally went over very well; in fact I booked several more dates from it.
Nate Leipzig saw Karl Germain Perform in
108 That same Clawson Hall was the scene of two Detroit. peculiar happenings. About a year later I booked a date for the Montgomery Rifles, a local military organization. I had continued to use the spirit slate trick in my programs; in fact, I had made it a feature trick and in doing it I would use topical subjects. The date was just a week after the Maine had been blown up in Cuban waters, so I decided to use that for the slate trick. First, however, I will describe the trick in detail: Two ordinary school slates are shown, all four sides are cleaned with a wet sponge, and these are shown to be free from any marks or writing. A small piece of chalk is put between the slates as they are put one on the other and they are tightly tied together with a piece of tape. Thus secured they are given to some one in the audience to hold. Five blank pieces of paper are now passed to members of the audience with the request for each one to write a question on his slip. It didn't matter what the subject might be, personal, political. or what not. I would then collect the papers, one of the audience would select one to he read and an answer would appear on the slate. On this particular night Lieutenant Henderson, of the Montgomery Rifles, was sitting in the front row. He was a big, husky fellow, weighing about two hundred pounds and had a tremendous crop of thick, curly hair. As I took his slip, he said in a voice that everyone in the hall must have heard, "If you have an answer to this question I'll have my hair cut." When the selected paper was unfolded and the question read, it proved to be: "Who blew up the Maine?" Then I had the man who held the slates untie the tape and separate them. On the inside surface of one slate was written in chalk, "A Spanish torpedo." I was startled by a yell as four soldiers pick up Henderson and carry him out of the hall amid shouts of laughter and applause. He had told them beforehand that he would write that question. Anyway, he got a free haircut. I was greatly excited when I heard that a Professor Stork, a magician who had come to Detroit recently and had opened a magical depot, would give a performance at a local hall. Of course, I made it my business to see his show which was very good, the one trick that was outstanding to me, was that in which he had three men in the front row, draw cards from a deck. The cards were returned to the deck and one of these men was asked to hold the cards in his hands. At that moment a telegraph boy came running into the hall shouting: "A telegram for Professor Stork." The professor opened the telegram and found the three cards that had been drawn by the three spectators and an examination of the pack proved that those three cards were missing from it. The trick impressed me greatly and as I understood the modus operandi I decided to do it at my next performance. Just at this time a young cousin of mine had come from Sweden to live with us. He was about fifteen years of age, quite tall and at the awkward stage, but he was a nice boy and we all liked him and he very soon picked up our language. When I booked another date for the Clawson Hall and was anxious to do this new card trick I enlisted the services of cousin Sam. I carefully coached him in his part, he was to stand in the back of the hall and at my signal he was to come to the platform and
109 deliver a letter to me. I had to make it a letter as I had no messenger boy's suit for him. The cue was that as soon as I returned to the stage, I would fold my arms. Well the trick proceeded all right up to this point and I faced the audience with my arms folded but nothing happened. Embarrassed, I held the position until I saw him coming up the aisle towards me with the envelope in his hand, his face as white as a sheet, he looked at me, then at the exit which was right next the stage and, without a word of warning, he dashed out and never stopped running till he got home. I could never remember what happened to me after that. Everything went blank in front of me. I think I got through a few more tricks and got out of the hall as quickly as I could, for I couldn't possibly face them. I never attempted that trick again for I never did like to use confederates. A little later came one of the thrills of my life; Herrmann the Great was to appear at the Detroit Opera House. Not having much money in those days I had to be content with a seat in the gallery. To me it was a marvelous evening, the first full show of magic I had ever seen. There never was anyone to equal Herrmann in his own style of magic. He held you by his appearance alone the moment he stepped onto the stage. The very first thing he did stumped me completely. Smiling at the audience he showed his wand, ran his fingers along it to the top and there appeared a real orange. He showed so many wonderful effects it would be hard to enumerate them and he kept a vein of humor running thru all his tricks. Altogether it was a memorable night for a lad who had seen very few magicians, mostly second-raters. In later years, however, I did see many more really fine magicians at the same theater . . . Harry and Bessie Houdini, John Schiedler, Guibal the Frenchman, Hornmann, Karl Germain and many others. One day Matt Delkar, who was the foreman of the spectacle department, said to me: "I see you are interested in tricks. There is a book that has been lying around at the house for years. It's a bit worn and nobody knows where it came from or who it be longed to. If you want it you can have it." Naturally I wanted it. so next day he brought it along. It had no cover but The Houdinis were on their way to the top otherwise was complete. Its title was "The when Leipzig caught their act. Secret Out" and it turned out to be an old English publication, out of print for many years. That book was a revelation to me. There were a thousand tricks explained in it and then I really started to work. I imagine that my card work before that had been somewhat crude. After reading the correct explanation of the rudimentary sleights and after I had mastered them, for I was more interested in card tricks than any others, it struck me that any one who had read such a book could easily follow all that I did. So right then I worked hard trying to invent new and original methods and after great efforts I succeeded in this aim. To that alone I attribute my success, since for many years my peculiar methods remained unknown and I was able to fool the magicians as well as the public. In fact many years later, when I had become a professional, my brother artists often
110 called me THE magician. Max Rudelsheimer, under whom I worked, came to me one day and said: "Listen, Nate, I want to open a place of my own, just a small place and I would like to have you come with me." He offered me a little advance on the salary I was getting and added as a further inducement the fact that he was a bachelor and that if I stuck with him the business would be mine some day. I accepted his offer and he opened a place opposite L. Black & Co. I stayed with him for seventeen years. I continued to accept private engagements but in those days I still had no dress suit. However, I finally got a break. My brother George, who was the elevator starter in the Hammond Building, at that time the tallest building in Detroit (ten stories high) was approached by one of the tenants who asked him if he knew anyone who wanted to buy a dress suit, a fine suit, silk-lined, but now too small for him. He said the original cost was $100 but that he would sell it for $10. When George told me this, I was greatly excited, for that was the very thing I needed badly. I spoke to my father and my brother Fred and, imagine my delight, they agreed to advance the money to me. The suit fitted me perfectly. so now I could go to any private home without being embarrassed. However, my first experience in the dress suit I shall never forget. I had a private date, the month was June and the weather was very hot. I couldn't very well wear my winter overcoat and my spring coat was a very short one so that the tails would show below it. However, my mother said she would fix it up, and she pinned the tails of the dress coat up so they couldn't be seen and I set out for my date. When I arrived I took off my overcoat and waited my call and when it came I walked into the room where the company awaited the magician. As I stepped in I was greeted by shrieks of laughter, which disconcerted me no little. On looking down I found I had forgotten to unpin my coat tails. Was my face red? But the host, who was an old friend, said: "Never mind, Nate, go ahead and do your show." I soon had them all so interested in my tricks that the incongruous tails were quite forgotten. One day I met a young man named Tolsma, whom I knew to be interested in magic. He said: "Nate, I have something wonderful to show you." He took an ordinary lead pencil out of his pocket, laid it on the palm of his hand, and at will made it stand up and lie flat again on his hand. I looked carefully for a string attachment or a hair, but there was nothing but the pencil. I was completely mystified and asked him where he got it. He told me he had been to see a magician at the Y.M.C.A. the night before, a man called Nathoo, the Hindu, and that after the show he had gone around to meet him. They got very friendly, he said, and before they parted Nathoo gave him the trick. I doubted that story very much. He probably bought it, for Hindus as a rule don't give away tricks like that. Tolsma refused to give me the secret, but I followed him around until he relented and showed it to me. That trick remained in my repertoire for many years. I made a great improvement in it, since I was the first to do it with a borrowed pencil. Years later I was disgusted to find that it was being sold on the street corners in New York. Once in a great while I have seen a trick which I could not fathom, but usually I
111 manage to find the solution later. However, I saw one once that befuddled me completely and I have never found anyone in all my travels who could give me a lucid explanation of how it was done. I happened to drop into Richter's, a high class restaurant and saloon. The time was about noon and the place was quite crowded. A gypsy woman came in and soon after I saw everyone crowding round her. She asked the bartender for a thin beer glass. She took it, showed her handkerchief which, by the way, was none too clean. and threw it over the glass. Then she gathered the folds below the glass so tightly that I thought the handkerchief would tear. Then she held the glass up by the ends of the handkerchief and in a moment a strange thing happened. There was a hissing sound like the effervescing of a Seidlitz powder, but much louder, and the glass began to vibrate violently, when finally the hissing and the vibration stopped she unwound the handkerchief and there was nothing to be seen. The Wonderland Theater where I had seen so many artists work was closed when the owners built a beautiful new vaudeville theatre on Monroe Avenue, the Temple theater. This proved to be a gold mine, it was crowded from Monday morning till Sunday night the whole year round. One day a man came in while I was attending to a customer, waited till I was free, then introduced himself with a flourish by producing his card with a back hand move. The card read: "Bennett, Magician." He was a very well-dressed and niceappearing young man and I became quite excited for I had not come in to close contact with many magicians. He proceeded to perform some sleights with a silver dollar much better than I had ever seen them done before. He told me he was stopping at the Russell House, which in those days was our finest hotel. He went on to say.'" I give lessons in magic. I charge fifteen dollars for ten good tricks if I can get a class of ten pupils; if, however, I can enlarge my class to twenty I charge only ten dollars. So if you know anyone interested, bring him along and come over to the hotel at eight o'clock." I really had no intention of taking lessons but I wanted to see what his work consisted of. That night I went to the hotel half an hour before the set time and he went through his program. While he did not have anything new, he did his tricks to perfection. When he got through he handed his pack of cards to me with a request that I show him what I could do, so I did a couple of color changes. He gave me a quick look and said: "Do that again." So I did. He laughed and said: "You don't want any lessons from me." We got very friendly after that and he asked me to stay and watch him give lessons to the fifteen pupils he had obtained. He stayed only a day or two. I found that he usually went to college towns where he reaped a harvest. His yearly take varied from five to six thousand dollars and he always stayed at the best hotels. This man showed me one thing that he didn't teach and that was the double lift. I had never seen it before and this was in 1904. The sleight became invaluable to me. It is different from the method so widely used now. He lifted from the left side without getting set for it and only quite recently I changed to the right side. Dr. Jacob Daley, one of New York's outstanding amateurs, uses it with great effect. Up to that time, with the exception of Bennett, who was good but limited, I had not
112 seen anyone who could palm coins cleverly, so I got quite a jolt when I met a young boy named Merrill Day, who showed me some of the prettiest coin work I had ever seen. As he had never seen any of my kind of card work we became very friendly and I firmly believe that meeting him had a great deal to do with my future success. We would meet once a week with the understanding that we were to have something new and original every time. It was at this time that I figured out my best effects which I have been doing ever since. Day, whose forte was coins, as I have said, originated some very fine tricks. Here is an instance of how one lights on new effects by accident. One day while holding a vest button in my hand (I always had something in hand to practice with) I tossed it in the air and caught it on the back of my hand, which being rounded on one side caused it to roll accidentally across my fingers. I was so surprised that I tried to do it again but with out success until I actually placed it on the back of my hand and by moving my knuckles made it roll over and over. Then I discarded the button and tried it with a five cent piece until I got quite proficient. For a long time, while sitting in a street car, I would become so engrossed in rolling the coin through my fingers that I would never notice how all the other customers were staring at me, then I'd wake up and stop, quite embarrassed. I was afraid they would think me a show-off; really I was only a youngster. Later I used larger coins, a half dollar becoming my favorite. I never dreamed what an amount of talk the flourish would create. I looked upon it then as merely a good exercise for the fingers. In later years a sleight of hand artist's repertoire was not considered complete unless he could do the coin roll or steeplechase.
Thurston presenting his elaborate version of the Water Fountain Spectacle. Nate Leipzip saw Ten Ichi perform the original oriental method, while Thurston was still doing a card act.
Day and I never missed an opportunity of seeing any magicians who happened to play in Detroit and we were greatly excited when we learned that Howard Thurston was to play at the Temple Theater. In those days Thurston was doing a card act. He featured his rising card act with which he fooled Herrmann (Leon). It certainly was a very fine effect. We went round to his dressing room and he was very nice to us after he had seen some of our work. He told us a good deal about Nelson Downs, who was the greatest coin manipulator in the world. Both Downs and Thurston had just finished engagements in London, England. We had already heard a lot about
113 effects. While Thurston was very clever with the back and front hand manipulations of cards, and, by the way, his work was the first of this kind that I had seen, he had no ability for the execution of fine card tricks. It was a great week for me as we were together the whole week. Through meeting Bill Booth, the stage manager, I got his permission to go back stage whenever I liked. That provided the greatest treat of my life for I thus met and entertained all the best acts in the country. It was thus that I met Henry Dixie, who was greatly interested in magic and in fact did a few tricks in his performance. Also Henry Stevens, the great actor, who seldom played outside New York where he usually created parts. Such acts as Cressy & Dane, Montgomery & Stone, Macauley & Davis, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Royale, Ryan & Richfield, and many others. It would be impossible to recall all the acts, they would run into thousands, since for many years I spent my evenings after work back stage in the Temple Theater. Thus I became surprisingly well known by entertaining all these actors. Of course, nobody knew my name; I was simply the fellow back stage at the Temple Theater. Here is an instance. One night Nate Leipzig I was standing talking to Bill Booth, rolling my half dollar, as usual, while on the stage was an act called Bruno and Russell. As Bruno stepped off the stage and saw me rolling the coin he stopped and said: "You are the fellow I heard about in London where we've just come from." I said: "I guess you must be mistaken; I've never been in London." "That may be," said he, "but Nelson Downs and Dick Lynch were talking about you."
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Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 2 By Nate Leipzig Part 2 of the Saga of a Master Magician The second occasion was even more peculiar. Bill Booth called me up one morning and told me that the famous Japanese Ten Ichi Troupe had arrived at the theater and that Ten Ichi had asked for me, that he wanted to show me his famous thumb tie trick in exchange for my method of doing the ring on the stick which he had heard so much about. So that evening I went back stage and met Ten Ichi and his people. He himself could speak no English but one of his boys, Ten Jee, acted as interpreter and so I did my ring trick for him. He showed me how he made the cord for his thumb tie by rolling pieces of thin rice paper to the required thickness. I saw his act later and it was a very beautiful one with many novelties. The thumb tie was a masterpiece in his hands, and as it had never been seen before, it caused a lot of talk.
"Leipzig, whose card tricks display quite the most uncanny powers of sleight of hand our town has seen in many and many a day." N. Y. Times, April 26, 1917.
He had another trick which was new to me. A Japanese girl came out with a small black felt hat which she showed and turned inside out several times, producing afterwards quite a lot of articles out of it. She repeated the operations and then threw it out into the audience to be examined. When it was thrown back to her, she immediately proceeded to take more articles out of it. The next trick, too, fooled me badly the first time I saw it. Another Japanese girl came on the stage with a drinking glass and a coin wand in her hands. She showed the glass empty and put it on a small table, then she went down amongst the spectators, the spotlight being thrown on her. She produced a coin with the wand, apparently threw it towards the stage, where the coin was heard to drop into the glass. These actions she repeated six times, then returned to the stage, picked up the glass and poured six coins out of it. It was this last part that mystified me, but the next time I saw the trick I had to smile at the boldness of the method used. When the girl stepped down off the stage and the spotlight was thrown on her, another assistant walked slowly across the stage and put six coins into the glass. The action was perfectly timed and done without stopping for a moment. Then he stood at the wing with six coins and another glass; when the girl apparently threw a coin towards the stage he would drop one of his coins into his glass, the sound illusion was perfect. Their finishing trick, the famous water fountains, had never been seen before in this country and it was one of the prettiest that I have ever witnessed. Later it was also
115 exhibited by Howard Thurston. Altogether, Ten Ichi's was one of the most original magic shows I have ever seen. Before he left he gave me a picture of his whole troupe. One of his boys, Ten Jee, had been shown a few coin tricks by Bill Hilliar, so I added to his repertoire by teaching him some of mine. The next famous magician I was to meet was Harry Kellar. I had seen him perform but had never met him. I found him a charming gentle man and we struck up a friendship which lasted until he died. After he retired my wife and I spent many pleasant evenings at his beautiful house on Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles. Soon after this two comedy magic acts played the Temple, Ziska and King, and Martini and Maximilian. Ziska was the first performer I saw do the multiplying billiard balls. He told me that he had taught it to Madame Herrmann. His partner, King Louis as we all used to call him, was a great character and very funny. Martini & Maximilian also had a good comedy act but the funniest act of all, which I had almost forgotten, for they were quite a few years back, was Bunth & Rudd. They had the audience screaming with laughter all the time they were on the stage and their finish when the comedy man tried to emulate his partner by baking a cake in a borrowed hat was one of the funniest bits of business I had ever seen. While I met a great number of magicians and performed for them, very few of them would make any comments, but the week Martini & Maximilian played the Temple, Herbert Albini showed at a smaller house. Albini had the reputation of being one of the best card men in the country, in his language, however, be was very uncouth and swore a lot. One night Martini brought Albini and several other artists over to the Geese's Restaurant where I usually held forth. They asked me to do some card tricks and as I had heard of Albini's skill I did some of my best. I didn't expect to hear much from Albini but to my surprise he said: "You are the best card man I have ever seen in my life, but what the blankety-blank-blank are you doing in this hick town? Go out and "Well, what can you do?" Horace Goldin get some asked the young magician in a bored manner. money." Leipzig soon showed his.
116 A little later the exciting news reached me that Horace Goldin was coming to the Detroit Opera House with the minstrels. Of course I went to see him and he gave one of the finest magic acts I had seen up to that time. His terrific speed and precision were beautiful to watch. He had an illusion, "Escape from Devil's Isle," which was really startling. That evening I went to my usual rendezvous, Geese's restaurant, where all the boys would gather after the show. A few minutes later in came Horace Goldin with one of our leading merchants, who called me over and introduced me to Goldin, much to my delight, as he said to Goldin: "This is our local magician." Goldin's sudden success had gone to his head somewhat, for which I could not blame him. He turned to me and asked me in a bored manner: "Well, what can you do?" So I did the coin roll. He made no comment but asked what else I could do, so I went on with some of my pet card tricks but still he made no comment. He did a few pocket tricks and he did them well but I had the great satisfaction of fooling him completely with an old trick in which I took a great chance. We were drinking beer so I asked Goldin for a penny. I told him to see that it was perfectly dry, then to take it by the side and drop it in my glass of beer in such a way that it would drop perfectly flat in the bottom of the glass. He did so and then I proceeded to tap the glass with my finger and the penny floated up to the top of the beer. I was completely satisfied when I heard Goldin say "Do that again," for that is the magician's formula when he is completely beaten. After that he melted his reserve somewhat and we became friendly. asked the young magician in a bored manner. Leipzig soon showed his.
Later that season he came back to Detroit to play the Temple Theater and he told me to watch out for one Allan Shaw, coin manipulator, who was routed to get to Detroit in a few weeks. I had never seen a coin manipulation act and Shaw had a reputation second only to Nelson Downs, who was conceded to he the greatest of all coin manipulators. Shaw came along in due course and as I had entree back stage I saw a good deal of his work. In those days Shaw was a very good-looking boy with curly blond hair and a good complexion. His act was clean-cut and original. Booth introduced me to him and, of course, I had to do the coin roll as this was always Booth's favorite. Shaw didn't say much, in fact wasn't at all friendly after I had done a few tricks. A year passed and Horace Goldin returned to the Temple. The moment he saw me he said: "Leipzig, I want to tell you something. I met Allan Shaw on Broadway about a week ago and he told he had his latest original coin creation to show me. So he proceeded to do the coin roll, rolling it up and back on his knuckles as he had not mastered running it all around his hand. Goldin said he then asked him when he had been in Detroit and Shaw colored up and said he had heard there was a fellow there who was already copying the trick." We had a good laugh over that, though naturally it hurt me a little. During this period I met not only magicians but also the greatest artists in all lines of entertainment. Among them Henry Lee, the proten artist, Paul Cinquevalli, the greatest of all jugglers whom I used to visit in later years in his London home, and Mr. and Mrs. James J. Corbett. That recalls an incident that happened to Corbett, when he played the Temple Theater. He asked me to join him and his wife at the
117 Russell House when they gave a supper for Ethel Barrymore who was playing at the Opera House. I was told to join them about eleven-thirty, but I was a little late and they had finished their supper. I was met at the door by Wm. Zimmer, the steward of the hotel. He told me he had arranged Miss Barrymore's initials in flowers and asked me what I could with it. I went in and, after I was introduced to Miss Barrymore, I proceeded to entertain the party. I got a napkin and a few blooms of flowers from the table and apparently placed them under a plate. When I lifted the plate there were the floral initials of Miss Barrymore. This made a big hit. The rest of the evening was spent in reminiscences by Miss Barrymore and Jim Corbett. Altogether it was a memorable evening for me. Another famous personage I met was Henry Dixie. I had already seen his former show "Adonis or The Man with a Hundred Faces." He was a man who could do anything and do it well. I first met him personally when he came to the Temple Theater. He surprised me with his knowledge of, and skill in, magic. In fact he told me that when Alexander Herrmann died he had intended to take over the show, but a Mr. Bancroft got it. Mr. Dixie was particularly kind to me and taught me innumerable things about the stage such as deportment and how to make oneself heard in the biggest theaters. Believe me these things have been invaluable to me. At that time I never dreamed of becoming a professional magician as I was very bashful and shy. Looking back I still cannot figure out how I ever had the nerve to step out on the stage alone to try to entertain several thousand people.
Henry Dixie, the actor, told Leipzig he had wanted to take our Herrmann's show, but Brancroft beat him to it. Bancroft's opening during which he came down a long flight of stairs was one of the most impressive ever staged.
One day Booth called me up and asked me if I would go on at the Temple in case some act dropped out. He said I might be called that week as one of the acts had arrived very drunk and he didn't know how long he would last. I asked permission from Mr. Redeisheimer, the man I worked for, and he agreed so long as it would be for a few days only. Saturday afternoon Booth phoned me that the performer, Leslie, had gone on the stage at the matinee and that he had to be pulled off. So that night I stepped out on the stage of the Temple Theater with fear and trembling as it was the first professional engagement I had ever played. I never realized the difference between the amateur and the professional until then. I knew nothing about showmanship as this happened before I met Henry Dixie, and, as I did not think I could put over my finer work, I had to resort to stock tricks. Anyway I went over fairly well which I attributed to the fact that I was a local boy. Next day, however, Sunday, I had an experience which was not so good. The Sunday audiences were of a rougher type, especially in the gallery. The act I had to follow was that of a young lady who sang popular songs and had two pickanninies who danced. These pics were a riot and were called back seven or eight times. Mr. Booth darkened the stage, put out my table and had my music played. I stepped out, but the gallery wouldn't have it so. The galleryites hooted and yelled until the pies came out to take a bow and even
118 that didn't appease them. Mr. Booth had to make an announcement that there would be no further show until the gallery subsided. Then I went on and spent the most miserable fifteen minutes of my life. That experience took all ideas of show business out of my head for a long time. Outside of magic my hobby was billiards and though I couldn't play very well I did certainly enjoy the game. I would spend my spare time at Sweeny's billiard room. One day he said to me, "I will show you how to make money. After your work some night I want you to come with me to Mount Clement, a summer resort just twenty miles from Detroit. I will take you to the leading hotel in the town and tell the manager you are a magician, that you will give a performance in the lobby for which a silver collection would be taken up." That idea shocked me somewhat. That part of passing the plate around didn't appeal to me but I decided to try it out eventually. So Sweeny and I took the car to Mount Clement and went to the Agnew House, the leading hotel there. The manager seemed pleased with the idea and then and there had a sign prepared stating the arrangement we proposed. He placed it so that everyone leaving the dining room could see it. About eight o'clock some hundred guests assembled in the lobby. I was introduced and I went to work. When I had finished the little daughter of one of the guests went round with a hat and to my astonishment the total collected amounted to thirty dollars. In spite of that and the actual performance being a success the business didn't appeal to me and I never did it again. Shortly after this it seemed that every boy I knew would ask me: "Have you seen Adams the magician?" Everyone spoke so marvelously about him that very naturally I became very curious about him. I wasn't able to get in touch with him as he was not a professional magician, but a traveling man for the Garlock Packing Co. Every day the stories I heard became more wonderful, so much so that I began to discredit most of them. However, I finally met him, and he was all that was said of him and more. He had a style of work which I have never seen equaled or even poorly copied. He was an adept at vesting and he did unbelievable things with that sleight. A good deal of his work was done with lighted cigar and glasses of beer, for he used no special apparatus. He would book a private date once in a while but most of his work was done to amuse the boys at the bar of the best hotel in the town. One of his favorite tricks was to stand up, pick up his glass of beer, place it underneath his coat up near the shoulder blade and then, turning round once, he would say, "Search me." He would slap his coat, flatten it, open it wide and then let them examine his vest. Finally he would take a handkerchief, wave it once or twice and then produce the glass of beer from it intact. His misdirection in this was perfect. The trick that I liked as well as any that he did was this: He would borrow a cigar from the man sitting next to him and then have the person button his coat. He would bite the end off the cigar and light it and apparently throw it into the air where it disappeared. This sleight he did to perfection. Showing his hands empty and pulling open his own coat, he would have the person unbutton his coat and there in his own pocket was the missing cigar. Outside of his vesting ability, he handled handkerchiefs very well, using a decanter for a vanish and this was also a favorite of mine. Later I changed to the Wilsbach tube and the next time I met him I found he
119 also used this tube, but as with the decanter he would always borrow one in the hotel. I think I got more friendly with him than with any other magician. He had a few thimble moves that were very good and it was he who started me with them. When next I met him I had made two metal holders so that I could make the full production. He also had evolved an idea whereby he could produce four. We exchanged many ideas, one I remember appeared in The Sphinx - the rubber band and a handkerchief. This was one of Adams's favorite tricks and a masterpiece of misdirection. He paid me a great compliment the first time he saw me at the Temple after I had become a professional. While he liked my card work very much, he liked best of all my method of doing the thimbles with drum effects. It was the last time I saw him and a few years later I heard he was dead. I had now worked for Mr. Redelsheimer, the optician, for about sixteen years and he had always said that if I stuck to him the business would be mine, but I was getting very disgusted with the way things were going. He had taken on a lady cashier and from that time on I might as well have not been there. I could see how things were going and I vowed I would take the first opportunity of breaking away. Even so I had no idea of going into the show business, although my greatest hobby was going back stage at the Temple to meet the performers. East meets west. Harry Kellar, first dean of Thus I got to know two boys named Berol and the S.A.M., greats Ching Ling Foo. Kellar Berol who did a rag picture act. The stage was was one of Nate Leipzig's best friends. set with a large picture frame some fifteen feet square, covered with black velvet. Sitting in front of this was a painter. In pantomime he showed he had no paints to work with and was very despondent about it. A rag picker entered and opened his bag, tumbling out rags of all colors. The painter, seized the idea of using the rags. The two went to work and by making use of the rags and various articles lying about, in a minute and a half, produced a beautiful marine scene on which the spotlight was thrown. Then by simply shaking the black velvet all the rags, etc., fell to the floor. They went on to make three other pictures, one, a snow scene, was very effective as they used cotton from inside some pillows for the snow effect. The last, which took them only thirty seconds, was a dog's head for which they used some rugs from the floor. The act was a very great success. The Berols were much interested in magic as a third brother, Max Berol, was well known as a mind reader, using his wife in the act known as Berol and Belmonte. The two boys interested me greatly in a stunt Felix would do, which I had never seen before. He would ask me to write forty or fifty numbers on a piece of paper and then call off a word and place it at the side of each number. After once hearing the words and numbers he would call them off in any way I wanted. Of course, that wouldn't mystify magicians now, but this was many years ago, Felix became quite
120 famous as a memory artist in later years. In fact all three boys used memory systems in various stunts. About a year later they returned to the Temple and while there they quarreled and were going to split up the act. Felix came to me and offered me a half interest in the act if I would join him. He told me they were getting a hundred and fifty dollars a week, which in those days was not bad. This gave me something to think about. As I was to do the rag picking and there were no lines to speak that made a great point in my favor. This opportunity coming just after I had made up my mind to quit the man I worked for so hard for so many years because of his treatment of me finally fixed me in my resolution. Of course, it required careful Hornmann was playing theatre dates with a comedy act when Leipzig first met him. His deliberation as the step meant leaving home, name is still perpetuated in the magic shop away from which I had never been. Mr. which Al Flosso currently owns. Redelsheimer was greatly taken aback when I told him my intention, he didn't like it at all and offered to raise my salary if I would stay on. But my mind was made up and I gave him a week's notice. Next I had to tell my mother and brothers and they were all against it. I was firm in the matter although they all predicted I would be back home in a very short time. There was a side to all this that Felix and I had not figured on. Willie Berol decided to take a lady partner and do the same act, using the same name which he had a right to do. We did not find this out until we got to New York. It was surprising how many people from Detroit and professionals I had met in Detroit that I came across in the very first day in the big city. Felix told me of two of his best friends that I must meet. One was John Liffler and the other Sargent the Magician. The next night after our arrival he took me to Sargent's home. I was asked to do some tricks. Sargent seemed to be greatly interested in them and told me I must come to Martinka's on the Saturday night to meet all the local magicians and their wives. So the following Saturday Felix and I went to the famous shop and I was surprised at the crowd that was there. Sargent had spread the word that I was coming and that I had something new. The result was that I was surrounded and had to show my stuff. Every time another magician came in I foolishly repeated my tricks. In fact they kept me going till quite late. I met a great number of magicians, both amateur and professional, who have remained my good friends ever since. It would be difficult to name them all, but I remember a few, Mr. and Mrs. Ransom, Mr. and Mrs. Francis Werner, Albert Smith and Blackton of the Vitagraph Co., Ronald Reeder, Robert Ankele, Pat Walsh, Wm. Ransom, Sargent, Wm. Kaufmann, Mr. and Mrs. Martinka and many more I cannot recall.
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Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 3 By Nate Leipzig Part 3 - Breaking into Vaudeville Saturday night was the regular date for the meeting of the magicians and their wives and I never missed one while I was in New York. In the rear of the shop there was a little theater with a stage and footlights. The different members would show their pet tricks. Francis Werner would never fail to do his famous bill tearing trick, his master piece. Every time I went there I would meet some of the best professionals, like Servais LeRoy, Fred Powell, Buatier de Kolta, etc. Those evenings were very enjoyable and long to be remembered. Private Work As to our act, it did not turn out very well for us for we had to do tryouts for little money. Willie Berol must have had the same trouble. So after both acts had struggled along for Invitations like this one, to see "a number of Experts of the Art", were sent for the about six months not doing at all well. Felix Saturday night shows in the back room of decided to do something with his memory act Martinka's. so Willie and I joined hands. But the split had cut the price for good and it was a struggle to get along; after a while we gave it up. However, I had made up my mind not to go home a failure and decided to take up private work with my magic. I went to all the leading agents in town and I had a terrible time for several months. However I was very fortunate in one way; four boys I had known in Detroit, all bachelors, had an apartment in West 22nd Street near 9th Avenue. One of them was about to be married and they made a proposition to me, that I should take his place and pay a few dollars a month when working and nothing at all if I were idle. That was perfect for me, it gave me a place to sleep and by that means I was able to stick it out.
122 Matters got so bad with me that I was down to two dollars, all I had in the world, when I met Alfred Guissart, an architect and also an amateur magician. He saw that I was in the doldrums and asked me to be his guest that night. He said he was going to New Rochelle to a dinner at the Elks Club with an entertainment to follow. We arrived there after the performers had started. Before the dinner was over the talent was exhausted. Mr. Guissart had introduced me to the Exalted Ruler and had also told him I was a magician. So during the dinner this gentleman came to my friend and asked if I would oblige with a few tricks. I did some of my favorites very successfully for I was called back several Another early S.A.M.er was the brilliant times. A few minutes later I heard the Exalted inventor Buatier DeKolta who performed in New York at the Eden Musee. He, too, was Ruler whisper to Guissart: "I wonder if your a regular at Martinka's when in town. friend would be insulted if I gave him fifteen dollars for his work?" I sure did accept that fifteen dollars with pleasure, it was a God send. The strangest part of that evening was that it turned out to be the turning point of my career. From that day I began to get calls from the agents for private work and was soon making from forty to fifty dollars a week, fifteen dollars from an agent was at that time the average fee. Vaudeville I used to drop into Martinka's a good deal during the day time, though it was generally very quiet on weekdays. There I met Harry Kellar and he took me to see a friend of his by the name of Beadle, quite an old gentleman but a very charming one. Mr. Beadle was an accomplished mechanician and made some very intricate pieces of mechanical apparatus for Kellar and a few other leading magicians. He liked to have magicians around him so his place became quite a rendezvous for us. Amongst others Elmer Ransom, J. Warren Keane, a very clever manipulator who was then strongly established in vaudeville, Allen Shaw, Barney Ives and a few others would often drop in on him. We would all go together for lunch to Max Schwartz's place across the street. Beadle, who lived in Cranford, N. J., about 35 miles from New York, would insist that I do a long distance telephone card trick and this was always a big success.
123 I was still content to do private work as I never figured I had an act for vaudeville but that work was definitely fated for me. Warren Keane, who was playing Proctor's 5th Avenue Theatre came to me and told me he was sailing for Europe that Saturday and that he had permission to take the day off if he could get someone to deputize for him. He wanted me to take his place at Proctor's for the Saturday and Sunday. I said I had no act, but he wouldn't stand for that. He maintained I had a lot of new stuff that had not been seen and that it would be a great opening for me. So I accepted but it was in fear and trembling that I stepped on the stage Saturday afternoon. But I got a pleasant surprise for as I was leaving by the stage entrance, two messages were handed to me. One was from William Morris, one of the biggest Leipzig met Powell at Martinka's. agents even in those days, and the other was from Powell toured widely with his evening of magic in the days before he became Jules Ruby, the man who booked the Proctor the second Dean of the S.A.M. circuit. Since the latter's office was just upstairs I went to him first. He told me that he and Morris had seen my act and he offered me the Proctor circuit. On the Keith Circuit Then I went over to Morris's office and sent my name in. He had me come right in, a most unusual thing as only too many who have cooled their heels in agents' offices will testify. He said he had seen the act and liked it and offered me six weeks on the Keith circuit at forty dollars. I didn't know much about vaudeville salaries at that time but I knew that from thirty-five to forty dollars was the usual thing for beginners. So I told him I was not a vaudevillian and merely played the two days at Proctor's to oblige Warren Keane, that my specialty was in private work and that I was making more than forty dollars a week at that. He said, "Listen, young man the best acts started at that price and Nelson Downs began at thirtyfive." "That may be," I replied, "but I haven't asked for any work," and that was where I had him for I had never gone to any vaudeville agent. He smiled and said, "Suppose I make it fifty dollars, will you take it?" I was afraid to go any further so I accepted and I will say this for William Morris, he raised my salary twice that year without me asking him to do so. I was playing my second week for him when I received a wire reading: "Six more weeks at sixty-five," and before the end of the season he gave me four more weeks at seventy-five dollars.
124 I have always considered myself very fortunate in getting into vaudeville so easily when I have seen so many struggle for years to get a footing. Even Warren Keane, when he returned from Europe some six months later, complained that since I had got in he had trouble getting his bookings again. I finished up a fairly good season considering it was my first and then it meant laying off for about four months. Even in that I was lucky. I met Sam DuVries, the husband of Anita, the fire dancer, and he asked what I was doing for the summer. I told him I had nothing arranged so he said that he had two small summer Francies Werner's torn bill trick was one of the most talked-of intimate feats of the day. theaters on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. In Leipzig saw him perform it a Martinka's. one he had six girls who did all the dances his Houdini describes it on page 99 of his book wife used to do and in the other one he wanted on paper magic. to put someone to do magic. For this show he had bought the Herbert Brooks trunk and the Floating Lady.
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Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 4 By Nate Leipzig Part 4 - In Europe On board ship my first trip abroad, I was told by several fellow travelers who were artists that I had better arrive in London a few weeks ahead of my performance to look over the situation and to study the difference in language. "While it is English, still it is different," they warned. In fact, I soon learned that my audience would not know what a "deck" of cards was, as it is known in England as a "pack" of playing cards. We used to use the word "deck" in America more frequently than we do now. But that was the least of my linguistic troubles. A little later, when I was actually performing in England, it so happened that the leading managers from all the big continental theatres went to the Palace Theatre in London, to see the acts and to select some for their own theatres. My act seemed to please Mr. Borney of the Folies Marigny of Paris. He spoke to my agent, offering me seven weeks starting on July first of that year, but stipulating that I must learn enough French to put it over. Since my agent spoke and wrote French fluently, and as I had several months in which to learn my act in French, he finally persuaded me to accept the contract. I studied my agent's French version of my conversation off and on, whenever I was able to do so, as I was suffering considerably from rheumatism. What with the pain, I Nate Leipzig scarcely had the patience to practice the twist of tongue and gutterals, not knowing what I was talking about. Many a time I was tempted to throw the manuscript out of the window and give up the engagement. However, I was finally cured of my rheumatics, and my agent was satisfied with my accent. I went to Paris - with my English bride, whom I had met on the very first day I arrived in England. We made it our honeymoon. On the opening night, I was greatly worried about my French. The stage manager, who was the only one around the theatre who could speak a few words of English, was very encouraging. After my first performance, he told me that I did very well. I probably would never have known it, as the people themselves do not applaud since a claque was used in that house But there was a huge joke on me. Those people in the audience, to whom I was speaking my bad French during Judy and August, were English and American tourists! After I learned that you may be sure that I spoke never another word of French during these seven weeks! On that bill were Julian Eltinge, Rice and Prevost - a very well-known acrobatic act and a number of American acts who were playing some of the other French theatres, but who lived at the Hotel Franklin, where I lived, and where the waiters and bell hops and everybody could speak English. If I had gone anywhere else, I would have been forced to learn French; there, with most of the American and English arts who were billed in Paris, I relaxed at my
126 ease. Another snag abroad was the matter of lighting effects. My success depended on adequate spotlights for my work, since all my work was done with small articles. Imagine my consternation when I learned that a spotlight from the front of the house was practically unknown! Their spotlights came from the wings, or the sides of the stage, which was fatal to me, as the light striking my hands from the sides would shadow my cards. So I had to stipulate in all contracts that I must have a spotlight from the front of the house. Here's a funny story about that: Most of the houses found great difficulty in arranging for this light, not having the necessary cable, but since it was mentioned in the contract it had to be done. At the Palace Theatre in Cork, Ireland, the best they could do was to place a boy with a light in the Orchestra. The second night this boy told me that two young fellows sitting behind him in the front row were discussing my first trick with cards which consisted of rubbing off the spots. One of the boys exclaimed: "I see how he does it. The boy with the lantern has slides and he is changing the slides." Again, the Zoo Hippodrome in Glasgow, Scotland, owned by the Bostock's of the well-known Bostock Circus family, had no balcony, so there was no way of arranging a front spotlight. Mr. Bostock came to me very much perturbed and said, "I don't know how I can arrange this for you. I have no such light and no place to put it." It would have been fatal for me to work in that size house, seating three thousand people on one floor, without using a front spotlight. I was compelled to insist that as it was in my contract, something must be done. Just before my first performance, the manager told me that it was arranged. When I stepped out on the stage I found that a platform had been built right over the orchestra and its leader. At the end of this, facing me, was what looked almost like a cannon. When they turned on the light I thought I was shot, as they had borrowed a search light off a ship. It was so strong I could hardly stand it. It is a strange thing in my life that every time anything extraordinary has happened to me, someone on this continent has been on the scene unknown to me, and has, several years later, bowled me over by telling me of incidents that happened which I did not think were known in this country. For instance, I was once sitting in the Lambs Club. I ran into Armand Vecci, who used to conduct the orchestra at the Ritz Carlton in London and now has the same position in this country in New York at the Ritz. He asked me: "Do you remember what King Edward said to one of the guests after you did the pencil trick?" I said' "No, but what do you know about it?" He replied: ''I was standing right behind you. I was conducting the Red Hussar Band."
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Of course, that was a very big surprise to me. What King Edward said to one of his guests, which I did not hear and may not repeat, proved that the King not only had an excellent sense of humor but was very much a human being like the rest of us. Again, when I went to the Orpheum Theatre in Winnipeg in 1908, the first words Mr. Dean, the manager, addressed to me were: "Nate, where is that gold medal that Mr. Maskelyne pinned on your coat at one of the big seances of the Magic Circle in St. Georges' Hall in London? The first and only medal ever presented by them to anyone, I understand, and presented to you because you baffled every magician in the Circle!" I said, "What do you know about it?" "Well," he replied, "I happen to be in the audience when it happened." Speaking of the King, I am reminded that I once was the proud possessor of one of his shirts. On an early booking around the world - England, Ireland, Scotland, Africa, Australia, America, and again England - on board ship en route to Africa, I was sought out by a Mr. Sullivan, who at one time had had charge of the royal laundry at the Buckingham Palace. Mr. Sullivan, it seems, had "never ceased hearing tell" of my performance of legerdemain at Buckingham Palace before King Edward and Queen Alexandra when they entertained the King and Queen of Denmark. He excitedly drew me into his cabin. Two full dress shirts reposed on the man's bunk. "These were once the property of King Edward, and I'm going to give you one," he explained. "I know you won't be able to wear it because the size is seventeen, but I think you will appreciate it as a souvenir. I'm going to treasure the other." I was delighted to have the King's shirt; but later, in Johannesburg, foolishly gave it to Mr. A. Goldman, one of the leading bookmakers in South Africa, who, upon hearing the episode of the shirt, had said: "That's just my size! Nate, I'd give anything in the world to own that." As he had been kind to me on many an occasion, I fell - I gave it to him. Afterwards I was very sorry that I did. Now, I'm told that a reporter ran this story about the incident: "King Edward was delighted with Mr. Leipzig's astounding sorcery to the point where he was willing to give the American wizard the shirt off his back. But even a king may not disrobe before an illustrious company. So His Majesty beckoned to George Ashton who booked all the royal performances. 'That man Leipzig . . . I take off my shirt to him. See that he gets one,' was his Majesty's command. And the royal edict was carried out. However, Mr. Leipzig found that he couldn't wear the shirt. 'Why, it's size seventeen!' he complained to a friend. "That's just my size ... give it to me,' coaxed the friend. And Mr. Leipzig did."
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The 1945 S.A.M. Conference in Chicago might take a tip from this photograph showing Nate Leipzig, then National President, producing rabbits to be sent as special invitations to distinguished magicians and patrons of the art.
Thinking back to England, there comes to mind an amusing incident regarding Mark Twain. I was a guest of a Mr. Chamberlain, then editor of the London branch of The New York Sun, at a Savage Club dinner and entertainment. The guests of honor were Mr. Brennan, inventor of the monorail railroad, and Mark Twain. This was just before his departure for America. There was one immense round table upon which a miniature monorail train was demonstrated as the centerpiece. It was interesting to see that if you pushed it while in motion, it came towards you, working, I understand, on the gyroscopic principle. It is well to mention here that this affair happened about a day or two after the Ascot Cup was stolen. This is mentioned to foreshadow a little incident that occurred which, I understand, has become a matter of history. When Mark Twain was announced, he stood up to a tremendous reception. He was a very fine looking man with his white, bushy hair and his white mustache - altogether a very striking figure, all in white in a Panama suit. When the applause subsided, Mr. Mark Twain said, "I noticed two headlines in the paper this morning: One said, 'The Ascot Cup stolen'; the other said, 'Mark Twain leaves town'." This brought tremendous roars of laughter. When Tom Edwards, the clever English ventriloquist, came over for an engagement at the Palace Theatre in New York, two years ago, we had many laughs over a joint performance in London. George Ashton had asked me to appear at Alfred Vanderbilt's house, stating that, as there were to be quite a number of performers, I need not arrive until eleven o'clock. I arrived at the door just at eleven, when who should come along but Tom. I said, Hello, Tom. You working here, too?" He said he was. We rang the bell, and the butler opened the door. We told him who we were. He said, "I will show you to a room and will send for you when you are wanted." The house was very large. He took us upstairs, through a long corridor, to our room. Everything looked comfortable. They had a table set with various kinds of drinks and a plate full of sandwiches. We had a drink or so and ate. Then I opened the door thinking I might hear something of the performance, but I could not hear a sound. Re-entering the room I had a few more drinks and a few more sandwiches, with Tom. We waited a very long time; it seemed hours. We both fell asleep. I awoke with a start - looked at my watch-found it was two o'clock in the morning. I woke Tom and said, "There's something wrong here." I went to the door; and at that moment Mr.
129 have you been? I've been looking all over the house for you. There are so many rooms . . . the butler forgot where he put you. The guests are leaving. Only a very few people are left." We went downstairs, to do a couple of minutes each, anyway.
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Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 5 By Nate Leipzig Part 5: The Saga of a Famous Magician About six or seven years ago, on the day following the Lambs Gambol, Mr. Grant Stewart, head of Actors Equity said to me: "I want to tell you something peculiar. After your performance last night, I told my wife and daughter about you. My daughter seemed incredulous and asked me to repeat your name. Then she said, 'That's strange. I'm just reading about him in one of my school books.' I told my daughter that I hardly thought it could be the same magician, and asked to see the book. So she brought me, 'The Empress Eugenie,' written by Edward Legge. And there is a chapter which describes what the Empress considers the most important event of her later years, when she entertained the King and Queen of Spain and a number of other notables and a hundred officers from Aldershot. The book then mentions the four entertainers, Mrs. Swinton, Harry Tate in his motoring sketch, Margaret Cooper, the well-known English music hall artist, and you, Leipzig, with your cards." Of course, this was a great surprise to me, as I never knew that this had been printed, but of course there it was. I tried to get this book but found it was out of print. I mentioned the matter to Brockbark, a member of the club, who had played Napoleon in various plays. He said, "I think I have the book for you, as I have a very big library on anything pertaining to Napoleon." I found, however, that the book which he kindly gave me had been written by the same man, but it was a different volume called "Empress Eugenie and her Son." A year later, when I had practically forgotten the incident, I met Miss Stewart when the Lambs went down to West Point to entertain the cadets, and she was kind enough to give me her book which now I treasure beyond price. The book which Mr. Brockbank gave me I lost through a peculiar happening. Lowell Sherman, the actor, who was very much interested in the volume, asked me to loan it to him. I never got it back. When I met him a year or so afterwards, he explained "The reason I cannot give you the book is because I let my wife have it, and I have since been divorced and have no way of getting at it." Since this incident he has been married twice again and I wonder how many more books he is unable to reclaim!
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When playing at the Hippodrome in Manchester, England, I found that heading our bill was the late Sarah Bernhardt, supported by Lou Tellegen. They were doing a scene from "Camille." I got to know Tellegen very well. He came to me one evening and told me, "Madame Bernhardt is anxious to meet you," explaining in this way: I was on the bill in the fifth position, and her act, which was full stage, followed mine. Quite early, she would come on the stage in the setting behind me, as this was before she had the operation on her limb; she was rather lame, and Mr. Tellegen would lead her there, where she would sit, waiting until my act was over. And as the Manchester audience was particularly kind to me, she would hear the applause and ask Mr. Tellegen what I was doing. He would explain as well as he could. Finally, he suggested to me that it would be a nice thing if I would perform a few little things for her in her dressing room. She spoke but very few words in English, but she made it clear to me in her charming manner that she enjoyed everything I did. She was kind enough to give me her autograph, and as I did not have my autograph book with me, she insisted upon giving it to me on my own stationery. Now, I'll tell a story about how the Vitagraph happened. First, let me state that, among the amateurs who frequented Martinka's I met three boys I got very friendly with, Albert Smith, and Blackton and Ronald Reeder. Smith and Blackton were the owners of the Vitagraph Company back in those days, about 1902. There was a third partner in the concern, an older man known to us boys as "Papa Rock." Reeder, Smith and Blackton used to give performances, nice evening performances once in a while in magic, lightning painting and in shadowgraphy. This was only a side line, a hobby, with the boys. Reeder was in the insurance business. When the Vitagraph got going strong, Smith and Blackton never forgot any of their friends. Several who were amateur magicians got very good positions with the Vitagraph Co. Reeder became the Paris representative and stayed there many years, but is now retired and living in England. They are all English boys, in fact. Now for the story. Smith and Blackton were both inventors. They sat one day in a saloon talking over a particular invention in connection with a camera. A gentleman, who sat at the next table to them, over heard their conversation and spoke to them saying; "Boys, I have over heard what you said and would like to know how much money it would take to float this proposition?" I have forgotten exactly the price in thousands that they asked, but he said, "It sounds good to me, and if you will take me in, I will be glad to put up the money." That was "Papa Rock" and the beginning of the Vitagraph. The offices of "The Vitagraph" used to be down in Nassau street in those days, and one Sunday the boys asked me to come down to the studio. We went up on the roof of the building and Smith rigged up a black cloth with two holes in it. I posed for about fifteen minutes, my hands alone, showing my novelties of sleight of hand tricks, like the thimbles and the matches, billiard balls, cards, showing only the hands in action-especially the coin roll. The picture ran about ten minutes. I saw a showing of this picture a short time later, with a very novel introduction. A black space and coins floated up into the screen and formed themselves into "Nate Leipzig's" and cards came floating in forming "Wonderful Hands." Mr. Smith gave me several rolls of the film of rolling the coin, which was all I cared for, as I wanted to use that film to close my act.
132 He even told me to have them colored the natural tint of the hand. There was a woman in Orange, N. J., who used to do all their work of that type. When I was in England, my films became nearly used up, and I sent over for more, hut unfortunately, they had had a fire and my negatives were among thousands of others that had been burned. During the first eighteen months of the World War, I was in England, and many people asked me why I did not change my name. My angle was this: If I changed it, the public would surely think me to be German. So I thought it best to keep it as it was, since I had been very well known as an American there for years. In fact, Mr. Stoll, who has the music halls in England, billed me as the American Leipzig for that season. One of the leading papers in London had an interesting article, saying that so many Germans in England suddenly became Swiss and Belgian, it also mentioned the fact that there were a lot of people bearing German names who were not German - mentioning "George Mozart who was an Englishman and Nate Leipzig who was an American." While I never had any trouble in England during the war, there were two occasions when I was a bit doubtful about my reception: I was booked to play Rotherham, and had heard that, during the past few months two magicians who played there got the bird (were hissed) from the audience. Naturally, I was a little bit worried about how they would receive me. But I had no trouble at all, and learned why the other two had been hissed: both had accents, and while the audience didn't know quite what the dialects were, they knew they were not English nor American, and they took no chances. So I could understand their reason. The second incident was something entirely different. I was playing at the London Coliseum, and just before my name was put out, there flashed on the screen a message. As I went out I heard tremendous cheering - a prolonged cheering. And this was the news: Three German battleships had been sunk. I was very fortunate that they did not flash the names of them, as one of them was the "Leipzig." As you know, during the war every artist playing in England was called upon to entertain the soldiers - either at hospitals or at private homes. One affair, where about fifty soldiers were entertained by a very lovely woman, will always linger in my mind, it was so pitiable. There were wounded soldiers: a wonderful audience to work for, they were so happy to be entertained! I was walking about, showing the various boys how I rub off the faces of the cards, when one of the chaps sitting in the corner called out, "Show that to me!" After I had shown him my trick right before his very eyes, he laughed at me, saying, "That's one on you. I'm blind." Such was the brave and pitiful sense of humor of the war. Really, he seemed to be the jolliest person in the entire room. When I returned here from England, I was booked to go to Montreal, and the booking agent was afraid to bill me by my right name, although I had told him about my English experiences - that I had had no trouble over there. He said, "Well, I'm afraid to take a chance in Canada," so when I came to Montreal, I found myself billed as Burlingame. But everybody knew me, so it didn't make any difference. I later went up to Winnipeg, and they had me under a different name there, but this was the very name that I, at one time, thought I would use, myself: Nat Lincoln. On the bill with me on that particular engagement was the well-known
133 act of Raymond and Calvere, and, as they were doing a Dutch dialect talking act, at the last minute they decided to put chin pieces on and do it in Hebrew.
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Nate Leipzig's Autobiography: Part 6 By Nate Leipzig Part 6: The Saga of a Famous Magician I have always liked to perform for people who know something about cards, as there is a slang saying, "You can fool a sucker any time, so it is a pleasure to fool the wise ones." I had quite a thrill, then, in performing for about twenty men whom I recognized as well - known card sharks. This happened in a night club of Leicester Square, London, which was then run by Ernest Pancher who formerly was one of the Pancher Brothers, a high class acrobatic act which played all over the world for many years. I happened to drop into this club about two o'clock in the morning. Two or three of the sharks knew me and I knew them by reputation as I very seldom played cards. They were in a very happy mood and called me over. One of them said, "Come on, we're all alone here now. Do something for us." So I did a few tricks for them, and want to emphasize that I never had a more appreciative audience in my life. When I arrived in London, I was given the good advice that if I wanted to see any friends at all, American or English performers, that I might know, I should go to the German Club which was run by a man by Seated left to right - Will Goldston, David Devant and Louis Gautier. name of Mr. Siegrist; at Behind Gautier, who wears the flowing black tie, stands Nate Leipzig. this club, most all Goldston and Devant were also S.A.M. members. American and continental performers make their headquarters. A very funny thing happened there one day. I put one over on Willie Zimmerman. I was playing at the London Hippodrome and Zimmerman was playing the Coliseum, which was just a stone's throw away. One morning I went into the German Club and found Willie Zimmerman all excited, showing everybody a new twenty dollar gold piece which he carried in a little chamois case. In his broken dialect, he was telling everybody about the novelty of this coin: it had been recalled be cause it was concave and wouldn't stack. As he brought it towards me, I put my hand in my pocket and found a silver dollar there, and, after I had examined his twenty dollar gold piece, I slipped the silver dollar in the chamois case as a lark. He had been particular, while showing the coin, to mention the fact that it was worth about one hundred dollars at the time. He put the chamois case in his pocket, and went to the theatre. I did not see him again until twelve o'clock that night, when I entered the German Club which was crowded. Willie Zimmerman was playing cards with two other men. I
135 gave everyone there the wink to gather around the table, whereupon I said, taking out his gold piece from my pocket, "Willie, you're not the only one who has one of these coins. I just bought this from a magical performer for twenty-five dollars." I saw his hand go instinctively to his pocket and feel for the case which was still there, and I could see that he was feeling the coin inside his chamois case. He said, in his broken English, "You're very lucky fellow, as that's worth a hundred dollars." I fully expected him to bring the coin out of his pocket, but he didn't do so, since he was satisfied that it was there. I finally had to ask him, "What was the date of yours?" And to see the expression on his face when he looked at the coin and found that he had the silver piece, realizing that he thought he had had the gold piece with him all day, gave everybody a good laugh. You have been coaxing me to expose a trick. This is scarcely fair, not only to me, but to the entire profession of magic. However, I will relate exactly how I did explain a trick when performing before Empress Eugenie of France at Franborough Hill near Aldershot, in England. This was Her Imperial Majesty, the wife of the Emperor Napoleon III, the empress whom an American dentist, the late Thomas W. Evans, helped to escape to England. The guests of honor were the King and Queen of Spain, the latter having been before her marriage Princess Ena, an English princess. I usually work with someone from the audience. In this instance, the two who offered their services for everything were King Alfonso and Prince Alexander of Battenberg. King Alfonso seemed to be greatly interested in card tricks and to enjoy everything very much. When I started doing the cigarette paper tearing trick, I said to His Majesty: "As a rule, I never expose a trick, but this is one that I sometimes expose. First I will fool you with it; then I will expose it." The young King was all eager attention as I tore from a pad a single sheet of cigarette paper; then showed my hands to be empty, proving that no duplicate pieces were hidden between my fingers. Next, I proceeded to tear the paper into small pieces, to roll these bits into a little pellet: then, promptly to unroll the ball and the audience saw the paper to be as intact as though it had never been torn. "Now," I asked, "must I expose it?" "By all means," cried the audience. "You surely know," I said, "that I cannot tear a piece of paper and restore it unless another piece is hidden in my hand. But the secret is this: I can hide a little piece of paper in my hand where you cannot see it . . . and I will prove it to you." I took a fresh piece of paper and rolled it into a little ball, with thumb and forefinger of my right hand; then I opened my hand and the audience saw that it was empty. Of course, everyone asked where the paper was. I showed that it was hidden right at the base of the thumb, in the crotch between thumb and forefinger . . . telling them that if I didn't want them to see it, they couldn't see it.
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"But that is only a small part of the trick," I explained. "I can exchange the pellets the one from its hiding place in the fork of my hand with the one that I will tear up without letting you see me do it. But I want you to see how quickly I make that exchange, just with a flick of a little finger. So I shall bring the hidden pellet out from its hiding place, into full view, doing so with the little finger tip of my other hand, and keep it gripping in full sight with my muscles." I now took an extra piece of paper and commenced tearing that, asking my audience to glue their eyes on the little pellet still in full view, warning them, "Watch carefully, or I will fool you again." Just as the second sheet of paper became rolled into a pellet, the piece that had been held in full sight by the muscles in the base of my thumb dropped to the floor, apparently accidentally, where upon everybody shouted, "You dropped it!" "You weren't watching," I retorted, "and I have fooled you again, because this one in my hand is restored, and the one on the floor is the pieces!" The assemblage had a great laugh at King Alfonso's expense, since he had been first to shout, "You dropped it!" The End
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David P. Abbott and the Notorious Bangs Sisters By Todd Karr An excerpt from House of Mystery: The Magic Science of David P. Abbott Edited by Teller and Todd Karr. David P. Abbott’s articles on spirit mediums in The Open Court magazine in 1905 and 1906 made him into an expert in the minds of many readers, who began writing him for advice, often concerned about relatives being bilked by fraudulent mediums. Several of these correspondents were particularly worried about a Chicago duo known as the Bangs Sisters commanding top dollar for their supposed materializations of portraits of loved ones The Bangs Sisters materialize a spirit painting painted by the spirits. A typical letter, dated January 26, 1907, begged Abbott to lend his expertise and expose these swindling siblings: My Dear Mr. Abbott: I am enclosing a letter from my uncle…You see by the letter he has faith in the Bangs Sisters, Chicago.... They sport autos, numerous diamonds, and are in clover generally; get three dollars per sitting and big prices for pictures and materializations…. Uncle A.W.F., however, is convinced there is no fraud in the spirit photo which he obtained of his little girl, as he and other members of his family saw the pictures gradually appear on a large canvas (picture is a large wall picture) which was placed in the window. “No possible chance for fraud,” he avers. Although Father has been shown conclusively that his own pet mediums are completely fraudulent, he still thinks there are some genuine phenomena and that the Bangs Sisters are OK. It would be such a revelation to so many people if you would write up the Bangs Sisters’ methods, giving details. I think they would be readily entrapped. Can you not do this, Mr. Abbott? Most sincerely yours, B. H. Foreman
138 The sisters who had duped Foreman’s father, Lizzie and May Bangs, had honed their craft over several decades, offering an array of spiritrelated services before eventually focusing on their novel, high-paying ghostly portraits. Abbott’s moral side wanted to help these victims by exposing the secret of the Bangs’ spirit portraits. But he was probably just as intrigued with uncovering the method for what sounded like an almost perfect magic effect: the miraculous materialization of paintings in full view. Visual effects were rare enough in that age of cones, covers, and curtained cabinets, but a gradual unconcealed appearance was almost unheard of. In their usual procedure, the Bangs Sisters began by sealing a photo of the client’s loved one between two slates, then sending the David P. Abbott, magician and customer away until the next day when spiritualistic investigator conditions would be better. When the victim returned, he climbed to an upstairs room in the sisters’ home and was seated facing a window. The sisters displayed two large canvases stretched onto wooden frames, placed them face to face, and positioned them vertically in front of the window. The bottom edges of the frames sat on a table just beneath the window. The sunlight from the window glowed through the white fabric of the canvases. To block any stray light, the mediums draped curtains on the sides and top of the frames. The sisters then sat at the table on either side of the window, each with a hand on one side of the canvases. After a dramatic wait of perhaps twenty minutes, the sitter began to see patches of darkness and color gradually materialize between the translucent canvases. The shapes gradually became sharper and more vivid until they formed a fully defined portrait of the sitter’s deceased beloved. The mediums then separated the canvases and displayed the result: an impressive painting the client could hang on his wall...once he had paid the Bangs’ hefty fee, of course. The Bangs’ secret was a unique advance in magic. It sounded so astounding that magicians doubted the reports could be accurate. The effect, though, was indeed so magical that — once Abbott had unraveled the technique — inventive genius P. T. Selbit was able to tour Europe and America with just the Spirit Paintings as a standalone act, followed by several competing versions presented by various vaudeville performers. Later, Howard Thurston — then America’s top touring magician — arranged with Abbott to secure performance rights for his show. The Bangs Family The Bangs family moved to Chicago in 1861 from Atchison, Kansas (interestingly, also the hometown of another of Abbott’s fascinations, Wonder Girl psychic Gene Dennis). Their father Edward (born in Massachusetts around 1828) was a tinsmith and stove repairman; their mother Meroe was a medium herself and recruited her young children into the act. The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Snow
139 Bangs — known as Lizzie — was born around 1860. Her sister Mary — later known as May — was born about 1864. They had two brothers, W. B. and Edward. By 1872, the children could perform a variety of séance effects, as described in “An Evening with the Bangs Children” by Steven Sanborn Jones in the ReligioPhilosophical Journal (August 3, 1872). Messages from the dead appeared on slates; chairs and furniture moved; when the children were tied with ropes and placed in a cabinet, a guitar inside was strummed and hands waved from within. At the conclusion, young May brought forth a “spirit kitten,” a hairless cat supposedly born in the afterworld. The reporter, like countless other trusting believers of mediums, felt the children could not possibly be part of a swindle: It must be remembered that these mediums are young children. There is not a particle of deception in their nature. Their hearts are free from guile, and in all their actions they exhibit the innocence of their nature. No one would accuse them of deception. Not yet, anyhow. Nine years later, on August 23, 1881, the Atchison Little Globe stated that May Bangs and her mother, now reportedly living in Chicago, had been arrested “for doing business without a license.” The pair argued that they were evangelists and that such a charge could not be made against a minister. By 1888, the sisters had become prominent Chicago mediums, performing lucrative cabinet séances, still assisted by their mother. The Washington Post (April 17, 1888) reported that “Lizzie and May Bangs, under the firm name of the Bangs Sisters, conduct the leading spiritualistic establishment in Chicago…. Their elegant parlors have been crowded by day as well as by night and money flowed into their coffers in large streams.” One of their clients was Henry Jestram, a wealthy Chicago photographer. Shortly after Jestram became a regular attendee at their séances and spent much of his fortune paying vast sums to the sisters, he went insane and was committed to an asylum. Many newspapers blamed the mediums for Jestram’s death (see the Hornellsville [New York] Weekly Tribune, April 20, 1888). In a spectacular arrest on April 2, 1888, two plainclothes detectives attended a Bangs séance and witnessed a series of spirit entities emerging from a cabinet. When a ghostly Russian princess in a regal gown made her appearance, the detectives seized her; she resisted furiously, throwing punches madly. One of the lawmen announced, “I have a warrant for you, May Bangs,” whereupon the princess’ mask fell off, revealing the medium. The sisters and their male attendants put up such a struggle that the policemen finally drew their guns to clear the room. The Washington Post reported that “a search revealed a satchel filled with white muslin shrouds and the like, three sets of whiskers of various hues, five wigs, moustaches, and a great variety of make-up material….” The article concluded: “The cabinet, satchel, and the sisters were then loaded into a patrol wagon and taken to the station and locked up.” Sadly, shortly after the arrest on charges of obtaining money under false pretenses, Lizzie Bangs’ seven-year-old daughter died. Newspapers reported that during the funeral service, the mother went into a trance and delivered a bizarre speech that blamed the child’s death “on account of the persecution I have
140 received.” By now, newspapers were referring to the pair as “the notorious Bangs Sisters.” Editors had a field day with the sisters’ marital dramas. Lizzie was married and divorced once; May married four times. In November 1890, May – already divorced from a first marriage – was granted a divorce from wealthy chemical manufacturer Henry H. Graham. Their brief, drama-filled liaison had begun during an 1887 séance in which Bangs told the newly widowed Graham that his dead wife had contacted her and said he should marry the medium, adding that his deceased infant had also sent a message: “Dear papa: I would like this lady for my new mamma” (Chicago Daily Tribune, April 17, 1890). In 1907, May Bangs again married, this time to Jacob Lesher, a millionaire leather manufacturer. According to the New York Times (July 1, 1915), the medium “proposed to him three times before he was finally won over by the assurance that the spirit of Lesher’s mother was urging the match and that he himself would become 25 years younger and would never again be ill.” Within two years, Lesher was penniless. “Business tips from the spirit world are blamed for the failure of Jacob H. Lesher, formerly rated a millionaire, and the husband of May Bangs, a ‘spirit painter,’” the Chicago Daily Tribune reported on July 16, 1909. Notoriety in Chicago In the early 1890s, a Chicago grand jury attempted to indict the Bangs Sisters but failed due to technicalities, according to the Chicago Daily Tribune (March 7, 1890). In 1891, a bill was passed by the Illinois Senate “prohibiting anyone from personating the spirits of the dead, commonly known as spirit-medium séances, on penalty of fine and imprisonment” (Chicago Daily Tribune, May 16, 1891). At least one Chicago spiritualist blamed the Bangs Sisters for this new law, saying that although “they were gifted with unearthly powers, their greed for gold had led them to abuse it” (“Spooks Go on a Strike,” Chicago Daily Tribune, June 8, 1891). In 1893, the pair produced spirit typewriting in sittings with G. W. N. Yost, the inventor of a typewriter, bringing forth typed spirit messages pecked out by the spirits of celebrities ranging from Moses to assassinated U.S. President James Garfield. The inventor sought more such messages from another medium, who soon left Yost broke (“A Ruined Man: Inventor Yost the Prey of Mediums,” Los Angeles Times, July 6, 1895). Venturing out of Chicago to Massachusetts, the sisters again made headlines in 1894 by conducting a bizarre wedding in which they married a wealthy woman to the departed spirit of her dead fiancé (Fort Wayne Sentinel, September 10, 1894). The Slate-Writing Exposure From 1895 to 1899, the sisters continued to produce slate writing for their Chicago customers and conducted twice-weekly séances on Sundays and Wednesdays at their home, advertising their services in the Chicago Daily Tribune. In 1900, an English investigator of psychic phenomena, Reverend Stanley L. Krebs, scheduled a sitting with the sisters, secretly intent on determining the method of their slate writing. His extraordinary exposé, “A Description of Some Trick Methods Used by Miss Bangs of Chicago,” was published in January 1901 in the British Journal of the Society for Psychical Research.
141 Following their standard procedure, the Bangs Sisters asked Krebs to bring with him a sealed envelope containing a letter he had written to a deceased friend, along with blank paper for a reply. To better detect any deception, Krebs brought a small mirror, which he positioned in his lap once he was seated at the séance table, giving him an excellent view of any trickery occurring below the tabletop. Lizzie Bangs sandwiched Krebs’ letter between two slates and tied them with twine. But when she briefly turned her back, Krebs slyly examined the slates and found that the medium had quietly slid a small wedge between them, opening a slight gap between the slates. Moments later, Bangs turned back and Krebs, thanks to his mirror, saw her pick up the slates and allow his letter to drop into her lap. As Bangs attempted to distract Krebs by making wild guesses about his dead friend’s name, he saw her bend down and place the letter onto a sort of small, darkcolored tray on a long handle, which was then drawn backward under the door behind the medium. Krebs later surmised that May Bangs was on the other side of the door, unsealing his envelope and reading the letter. About ten minutes later, Krebs saw a piece of paper being slid back into the room from under the door. Under the pretense of shifting her position in the chair, Lizzie Bangs bent down, picked up the slip, placed it on her lap, and quickly read it. She immediately began reciting names which she said came from the spirit world, though obviously all this information was mentioned in Krebs’ letter and had been jotted down by May. After several more minutes, he spied his envelope being secretly slid back into the room. The medium stooped to pick it up and, under cover of more distractions, secretly slipped it back between the slates and removed the wedge. She then allowed Krebs to untie the slates, open his sealed letter, and read the spirit messages on the papers, which of course had been written by the very alive May Bangs. Unfortunately, the Chicago media seems to have paid no attention to Krebs’ essay and sitters continued to flock to the Bangs home. Krebs concluded his article by mentioning that “…after the whole was over, I arose and thanked Miss Bangs for the most interesting exhibition she had given me, whereupon she kindly offered still more, namely, to take me into her sister’s house and show me the ‘spirit portraits’ there.” Unfortunately, Krebs did not accept Lizzie Bangs’ offer, leaving the spirit paintings a mystery for several more years. Early Spirit Paintings The spirit portraits brought the Bangs Sisters more renown and income than any of their previous spirit specialties like slate writing. Spirit photographs had been popular items for years with many Spiritualist mediums, who could make a good living selling these double-exposed photographs, but as the Bangs Sisters discovered, they could charge truly exorbitant fees if they gave the sitter a large artwork he could display in his home as a treasured memento. The mediums told their clients the paintings were created by the spirits through a mysterious process known as “precipitation.” Displays of “precipitated spirit portraits” created by the Bangs Sisters can still be seen on display at Spiritualist centers like Camp Chesterfield and Lily Dale. Despite the notoriety of their spirit paintings, the Bangs Sisters were not the first to put phantom artists to work. In the 1870s, Scottish medium David Duguid (1832-
142 1907) made spirit paintings appear during his darkened séances, as described by Nandor Fodor in These Mysterious People (1934): “In total darkness, on little cards which the sitters brought along and marked, while the medium was held or tightly bound, invisible entities executed small oil paintings, sometimes in as short a time as 35 seconds.” In 1876, a story supposedly dictated to Duguid by the spirits, illustrated with 45 of his spirit paintings, was published under the title Hafed, Prince of Persia: Being Spirit Communications Received Through Mr. David Duguid, The Glasgow Trance-Painting Medium. After a long career, Duguid’s method – simple substitution – was finally exposed. As Fodor reported: In 1905, at the age of 73, after nearly 2000 séances, he was caught in deliberate fraud in Manchester. He brought the spirit paintings ready-made to the séance room and attempted to exchange them for the blank cards which the sitters provided. On being forcibly searched, the original cards were discovered in his trousers. Around 1888, a corpulent female medium and frequently jailed con artist known as Ann O’Delia Dis Debar (among many other pseudonyms and spellings) made headlines in New York when she was tried and imprisoned for swindling wealthy lawyer Luther Marsh. Dis Debar had sold Marsh dozens of paintings supposedly created by the spirits of prominent artists, including one work called “The Circumcision” that she attributed to Rembrandt. Dis Debar’s method was nothing like the Bangs’ later gradual visible appearances. In one account, she or her accomplice switched a blank canvas for a painting as she led her sitter out of the room; another visitor said he witnessed the switch when he happened to glance in a mirror in the séance room (New York Times, March 31, 1888). Harry Kellar used the Dis Debar case as an opportunity for newspaper coverage in the Los Angeles Times, suggesting several possible methods (“Spiritualistic Fraud,” May 16, 1888). One of his outlandish proposals was that the medium used a trick easel with a painting on one side and a blank canvas on the other; a slide projector would gradually form the picture on the white canvas, then the real picture would pivot into view. Kellar also suggested that an invisible picture could be painted with certain chemicals which would develop when brought into a hot room or wiped with a damp sponge. These farfetched theories are surprising given Kellar’s knowledge of magic methods, though in his defense his farfetched theories sound no more outlandish than some of those David P. Abbott proposed during his later search for the Bangs Sisters’ secret technique. Alexander Herrmann chimed in a few weeks later during a benefit at New York’s Academy of Music, where he presented an exposé of Dis Debar that may have been the first onstage performance of a spirit-painting effect, though his version was a pretty crude forerunner. As the New York Times (May 28, 1888) reported: “The spook picture act of Mme. Dis Debar was performed in a way which deceived the whole audience until the method was shown. It was very simple. A prepared picture was covered with a thin and pliable sheet of paper, which was simply pulled off and palmed.” Buatier de Kolta also inserted a painting materialization into his show around this period. At the Eden Musée in New York on December 22, 1891, De Kolta
143 included “a very pretty drawing trick, the climax of which was the sudden appearance of a portrait of [New York congressman and governor] Roswell P. Flower in true Dis Debar style,” the New York Times review noted (“A New Magician,” December 23, 1891). Another possible method used by Dis Debar was proposed years later at a sale of her paintings from the estate of bilked lawyer Luther Marsh. The auctioneer stated that Dis Debar had obtained over 100 paintings from an art collector to use in her swindle. “…powdering the pictures over with chalk, (she) would slowly erase it in a darkened room and tell Mr. Marsh that her hands were being guided by the great masters of painting, and had as her proof the works exposed to view when the lights were turned on” (“‘Spirit Paintings’ Sold,” New York Times, October 30, 1903). This messy method of concealing the painting by covering the canvas with a white substance — such as whitewash or zinc oxide — has since been suggested many times in magic literature; this article on Dis Debar, may indicate that this seemingly impractical technique was actually put into practice. The Bangs Sisters’ Spirit Portraits As early as 1894, the Bangs Sisters were producing spirit paintings, according to a letter from May Bangs quoted in James Coates, Photographing the Invisible (1911). At that time, however, they were not yet using their visually astounding rear-lit technique. Instead, they sealed the blank canvas in a box; when opened a few days later, the painting had appeared on the canvas. In the sitter’s absence, of course, the mediums just unsealed the box, switched canvases, and resealed the case. In Coates’ book, May Bangs herself admitted that this method was less than convincing: It was necessary to curtain the canvas, and several sittings were required to finish one picture. Then locked boxes were used, but all these processes, where the canvases were out of the sight and control…of the visitors suggested the possibilities of fraudulent procedure and of changes made to that effect. Latterly, the pictures have been obtained in broad daylight and are finished in one sitting lasting about twenty to forty minutes. Around 1898, another duo of mediums, known as the Campbell Brothers – actually two companions, Allan B. Campbell and Charles Shourds – made paintings appear in a style similar to the Bangs Sisters’ later backlighting method (cited in Joe Nickell’s article “Spirit Paintings” on csicop.org). The Campbells stood a large canvas on a table in front of a window in a dimmed room, the medium and a spectator sat at the table, and a silken curtain was drawn in front of the canvas. The veils were parted periodically to allow glimpses of the gradual materialization of the painting. The Campbells’ presentation sounds so remarkably close to that used by the Bangs Sisters that it seems likely that the sisters learned of their colleagues’ method and adapted it for their own home séances, though perhaps both duos procured the same secret from some other source.
144 Increasing Notoriety Whatever the origin of the sisters’ improved technique, their new version of the spirit paintings helped increase both their business and their notoriety. By 1905, a reporter from the Stevens Point (Indiana) Journal commented: It has just come to general notice that two women, the Bangs Sisters, carry on a thriving trade in Spiritualism among people of high commercial and social standing; that “people you wouldn’t have believed it of” consult them as oracles, believe in their utterances, in the pictures they bestow upon those favored by the spirit artists…. Who buys them, or rather who pleads for them and, incidentally, pays for these medium’s troubles? Well, such as these: doctors, lawyers, and women, of course. What do they pay for these works of art? Anywhere from $15 to $150. One prominent paying customer was the Reverend Dr. Isaac K. Funk of the dictionary publishers Funk and Wagnalls. Funk reportedly paid $1500 to the sisters for a number of paintings, as the Chicago Daily Tribune reported on February 25, 1905: There he sat before a bare canvas in a darkened room...On one side was Mary Bangs and on the other, Elizabeth. Softly they communed with the spirits of “departed artists” until one consented to paint the picture, through the mediums, for the wealthy publisher. Slowly, a beautifully tinted portrait of a deceased relative of the minister was thrown upon the canvas. The newspaper also noted that a Chicago judge, Joseph E. Gary, was a Bangs patron. A group called the Chicago Spiritualist League complained that the sisters were harming the reputation of believers who followed Spiritualism as a religion. At one meeting, the Chicago Daily Tribune reported (February 27, 1905), its leader asked, “Are the ‘spirit paintings’ of the Bangs sisters frauds? Most emphatically yes. There is no such thing as a ‘spirit painting.’ These paintings are the work of human hands. Do you suppose a spirit is going to return to this earth…to paint pictures for the pecuniary gain of some medium?” In 1905, the Illinois State Attorney stated in an article (“Bangs Sisters Interest Police,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 28, 1905) that fraudulent mediums could be prosecuted for obtaining money under false pretenses. The Bangs Sisters somehow managed to escape prosecution, except for a minor case years later in 1908, when the police arrested May for violating the city’s fortune-telling law; she was released after paying a $25 fine (Chicago Daily Tribune, July 30, 1909). Early Explanations The mediums’ success provoked explanations of how they made their portraits appear. As with the Dis Debar paintings, the suggestions were based almost exclusively on speculation, since no skeptic seems to have been willing to pay the fee to actually witness the painting process in person. In “How Ghosts Paint Spirit Portraits” (Chicago Daily Tribune, February 26, 1905), for example, a local printer proposed that the blank canvas was switched under one of the sisters’ skirts for a
145 prepared painting wrapped in several layers of tissue that could be progressively removed to make the portrait gradually appear. The article “Bangs Sisters Interest Police” (Chicago Daily Tribune, February 28, 1905) included a quote from one reader, who wisely pointed out that the sisters …can’t produce a picture of a relative of the sitter without a photograph, no matter what they may say to the contrary. They have to obtain these photos either in an underhand manner or with the consent of the sitter. If they have no photo — well, it’s a case of “unfavorable conditions.” The anonymous and apparently well-informed reader also stated that the finished paintings were actually enlargements of the sitter’s photograph that had been airbrushed over by an artist named Day. This newspaper report is also significant since it quotes Philip H. Meyers, the inventor of the early Talking Teakettle, which he sent to Abbott as a gift in 1909; see the first section of Abbott’s Book of Mysteries for more about Meyers. The Daily Tribune article describes Meyers as a manufacturer of equipment for spiritualists. He claimed to possess the Bangs’ method for the spirit portraits but “would want several hundred dollars for the secret.” The reader’s observations were the basic method for half of the Bangs’ procedure. The sitter had to bring along a photograph of the relative they wished to have painted. The sliding-letter switch under the séance-room door, described by Reverend Krebs in his 1901 slate-writing exposé, was used to smuggle the sitter’s photo out of the room, though other visitors reported being instructed to leave their photo in their coat in the hallway, where of course it could be easily pilfered. The Bangs Sisters next insisted on continuing the séance another day, giving them time to take the photograph to an artist to prepare a larger version on canvas in time for the sitter’s next appointment. As a result, the portraits invariably mirrored whatever image the sitter brought along. If for some reason the sitter had no photograph, the mediums used a stock portrait with loved one’s basic age and gender, explaining away any inaccuracies with the excuse that the image showed how the relative now looked in the spirit world. The sisters added two other convincing details that astounded the sitter even more. First, the customer could feel that the finished painting was apparently still wet, giving the impression that the work had been freshly painted by the spirits. Later investigators like Hereward Carrington suggested the effect could have been created simply by smearing linseed oil over the painting’s surface prior to the sitting. Carrington’s idea is supported by one report noting that the mediums placed two thin sheets of paper between the canvases before the painting appeared; if linseed oil was used, this paper would have prevented the oil and any potentially dampened paint from smudging onto the blank canvas; see W. Usborne Moore, Glimpses of the Next State (1911). The second convincing nuance was that after the front canvas had been removed and the finished painting was revealed, the mediums used the power of suggestion to convince the sitter that the portrait was still being painted by the spirits before their very eyes, excitedly shouting that the face’s eyes were opening or that details were appearing on a locket or ring in the picture. On other occasions, if a sitter commented on an inaccuracy in the painting, the
146 mediums asked the client to allow the painting to develop while they took a break in another room. This would give the artist (or perhaps the mediums themselves) time to make minor changes to the painting. Upon resumption of the session, the alterations would be jubilantly pointed out to the sitter. With typically excited but fuzzy recollection, sitters would often claim that the changes had occurred right before their eyes or that they had merely mentally requested the alterations. One Bangs client reported: At 7:30 p.m., I returned to the house and found the picture had undergone further improvements, especially in the sky and background. I mentally desired that the locket should be made larger, and that the monogram should be impressed upon it. My next visit was at 10:20 the following morning…I then found that the monogram had been imprinted on the locket…and the locket itself had been enlarged. The likeness is not very good. The interest in this picture does not lie in its fidelity as a portrait, but in the various alterations that were made after it was taken away from the window, and especially in the monogram precipitated at my mental request when nobody was present. (W. Usborne Moore, Glimpses of the Next State) All these fine points challenged the ingenuity of would-be exposers of the Bangs’ spirit paintings. The publisher of The Progressive Thinker even offered a $100 reward for an exposé of the Bangs Sisters’ method. A Kansas City minister, A. T. Osborn, told the New York Times that an explanation for the Bangs’ portraits had come to him in a dream (“Solves ‘Spirit Paintings,’” July 9, 1908). Osborn’s theory was that “They made a magic-lantern slide…the portrait was thrown on a blank canvas by means of a stereopticon. A dissolving-view device caused the picture to fade from the blank. The painted enlargement was slipped on the trick table and a cover whisked off the moment the magic lantern view vanished.” Confident that Osborn’s method was wrong, the Bangs Sisters promptly telegrammed the minister and offered him $1000 if he could correctly demonstrate the secret of their portraits. When Osborn accepted, they sent another telegram demanding that the reverend wager $1000 as well. The Washington Post (“Girls Seek Pastor’s Coin,” July 11, 1908) reported Osborn’s reaction: “Of course I can’t have anything to do with such a proposal. I can’t do any betting, and whoever heard of a minister with $1000?” On the Road One of the sisters’ devotees was Dr. Charles H. Carson, the wealthy Kansas City head of the Temple of Health, the Magnetic Mineral Springs, and the College of Psychic-Sarcology. In 1908, Carson included over a dozen Bangs Sisters paintings in a self-published book of writings supposedly composed by the spirit of his dead wife, entitled Through the Valley of the Shadow and Beyond. “Dr. Carson was a believer in the Bangs Sisters and brought them to Kansas City at his own expense, renting apartments and furnishing them....” Abbott wrote to Paul Carus on July 18, 1908. “He is said to have parted with ten thousand dollars for spirit paintings, and one evening gave a reception to exhibit his spirit gallery.” As their renown grew, the Bangs Sisters occasionally took their painting act to
147 Spiritualist collectives like Lily Dale, materializing a sample portrait onstage to promote private sittings after the show. The controlled conditions of their Chicago home, however, proved elusive onstage. In a 1910 demonstration for the Kansas City Society of Spiritualists, the Washington Post reported, “something was the matter with the lights in the building, which situation prevented this part of the performance.” At another appearance, the lamp used to illuminate the canvases set fire to the sisters’ equipment. On another occasion, a curious audience member asked the sisters, “Are you worth a million dollars?” May snapped back, “If we are, it’s none of your business.” The mediums mercifully took less time onstage to make their paintings appear than they did at their home, where the process could take almost an hour. During a 1909 Camp Chesterfield show, for example, they required only eight minutes to produce a painting (James Coates, Photographing the Invisible, 1911). Abbott on the Trail David P. Abbott pondered the secret of the Bangs Sisters’ paintings in correspondence with Open Court magazine readers, eventually collected in the journal as a series of letters on “Spirit Portraiture” and later in the appendix of Behind the Scenes with the Mediums in 1907. To explain the paintings, Abbott needed to solve several major puzzles. How did the mediums obtain a photo of the sitter’s loved one? (Abbott had apparently missed Krebs’ account published in England.) How did the image gradually appear on the canvas? How was the blank canvas switched for the finished painting? And how did all this occur in the simplest of settings in a small room on an upper story of a neighborhood house? In his first attempts to resolve these questions, Abbott proposed a variety of improbable methods that widely missed the Bangs’ simple procedure. Abbott suggested that the mediums could have copied the sitter’s photograph by having a hidden assistant in the room taking pictures through a telephoto lens. For the gradual development of the paintings, Abbott thought mechanisms hidden in the window sill might somehow spray invisible chemicals onto the canvas. Abbott discussed the problem in his letters to his publisher Paul Carus, typing page after page as he considered complicated methods like concealed slide projectors and mechanical switching tables. At one point, Abbott found out that one of his correspondents, C. F. Eldredge of Kansas City, editor of The Health Reporter, had actually witnessed the Bangs Sisters produce a painting. Eldredge, unfortunately, could still not fathom their method, but his detailed report helped Abbott narrow the possibilities of what the actual procedure could be. On July 18, 1908, for example, Abbott wrote to Carus that Eldredge wondered “why picture seemed between canvases when a lantern would unmistakably project it on back of rear canvas.” Abbott was also exchanging letters with Dr. Isaac Funk, who, as mentioned earlier, had reportedly paid dearly for several Bangs portraits. In an April 1, 1907, letter, Funk offered to pay for a Bangs Sisters séance if Abbott could make a trip to Chicago: I wish to tell you something wholly on the quiet: I have had a number of sittings
148 with the famous Bangs Sisters of Chicago. I know, I think, all of the explanations that have been given by various persons…. I have made a large number of experiments with them and, notwithstanding all the exposures that have been made, I would like to have you — when in Chicago — to call upon them and make a test, that is, providing they have no means of recognizing you…. Have some wee mark on the frame facing you that you know of but nobody else knows of, and see to it that there is no substitution of frames. It would be absolutely necessary that you do not exhibit the slightest suspicion. Of course, let it be understood that you are investigating, perfectly willing to accept the truth, whatever the truth is. Do not mention — directly or indirectly — my name to them. Now, if some time you are in Chicago and do this, I will bear the expense of getting the picture from the mediums, which was $30 or so when I saw them last. The time and expense of the trip undoubtedly deterred Abbott, who was in the midst of proofreading Behind the Scenes with the Mediums in addition to running his loan business. Abbott wrote Carus in 1908 that he was trying to convince Funk to take a magician with him on his next visit, perhaps Joseffy. Dr. Funk eventually sent Abbott’s friend Hereward Carrington to visit the Bangs Sisters. Carrington — a prolific writer, psychic investigator, and one-time magician — detected the mediums cheating in their slate demonstrations and reported their fraudulent methods in the British Annals of Psychical Science (JulySeptember 1910). The sisters, however, refused to demonstrate their paintings for Carrington. Abbott’s Eureka Moment In 1908, through an intermediary, Abbott contacted Philip H. Meyers, the inventor of the original Talking Teakettle who back in 1905 had claimed in the Chicago Daily Tribune to knew the secret of the Bangs portraits. Abbott had his Chicago friend Ralph W. Read try to negotiate a purchase. Meyers’ price for the secret of the paintings was too high for the men, but he sold them what he said was the Bangs’ slate-writing secret. To Abbott’s disappointment, it turned out to be just a common technique that Abbott already knew. True to his financially prudent ways, Abbott decided to forego any further expense and instead experiment on his own. This money-saving move began a hands-on experimentation process that soon led Abbott to the long-sought secret. On February 18, 1909, Abbott excitedly wrote Carus: “I really believe I have solved this secret by reason alone.” His joy was premature. His latest incorrect solution seems to have been a mechanism that would wind up layers of silk covering the painting, gradually allowing more light to penetrate the canvases as if the painting was gradually developing. But this wrong turn was in fact the key that led Abbott to his “Eureka” moment when the correct answer suddenly came to him. Abbott wrote Carus on February 22, 1909: I decided yesterday that while theories are all right and should precede experiment, that I should try out my theory in actual practice. I built a quarter-sized model of a screen. I designed one that would roll up or unreel the silk rapidly or slowly. It was but 1/8-inch thick. I made three frames and
149 tacked canvas on them. One was a picture, size nine by fourteen inches. I placed a table and the canvases in position, lowered the blinds, and pinned on the side blinds as per directions. Now, all of this brought about an unexpected result. First, I arrived at the conclusion that no screen is used in actual practice, notwithstanding what Read says, or my own theories; and second, I made the discovery of a new principle which surely is the correct one. It is so absurdly simple that at first sight one would give it little credence, but after two hours of actual experiment I cannot help but believe it is the right thing. Simplicity is really in its favor. Mediums seldom use much paraphernalia, as they must always be prepared to “make a quick getaway.” So whatever is used, we must expect it to be something simple. In fact, the simple things have always produced the greatest effects. Now, what I discovered is this: If two canvases be faced together and in position, and if there be upon the rear canvas a portrait in transparent colors (pastel, crayon, airbrush work, etc.), this — to be plainly visible — must be in actual contact with the surface of the front canvas. At a distance of 1/8-inch, the outlines begin to be indefinite — not sharp; at a quarter of inch, much more so, while at a half-inch (the) image is very confused in appearance and looks like a view from a lantern out of focus, a cloud of color, etc. At a distance of one inch, the image appears to be some confused shadows, and at two inches’ distance, all trace of the portrait has disappeared. Now it is only necessary for the rear canvas to be slowly moved toward (or from) the front canvas to cause the picture to materialize or to fade out precisely as described. The motion must be slow and uniform, and is very difficult to control by hand…. I can best compare the effect produced to what one witnesses when viewing a lantern slide wholly out of focus, and then see it slowly brought into focus. First there is not even a shadow; finally some indistinct shadows appear; these soon seem to be an indistinct cloud consisting of some colors mingled together. These gradually change into the image but with quite indistinct outlines which become more and more sharp until the picture appears quite plain and sharply defined, yet it shows a slight smoky effect caused by looking at it through a canvas and viewing it by transmitted light. All of this corresponds exactly with the descriptions I have received of the effect. It would appear just like a lantern image, only it would not be this, and the picture would really be in the window as is claimed. Final Details Carus wanted to publish Abbott’s explanation in The Open Court. But before publishing his findings, Abbott wanted to understand the Bangs’ entire procedure. Despite discovering the simple methods that produced the paintings, Abbott continued proposing complicated ideas to explain the remaining details of the Bangs’ technique. In letters to Carus, Abbott suggested that the blank canvas was initially switched for the painted one using an elevator device built into the walls of the Bangs’ home, with a secret assistant below exchanging the paintings. To explain the postappearance alterations — which the Bangs Sisters created through mere suggestion
150 or by adding changes in the sitter’s absence — Abbott envisioned a complex systems of colored patches controlled by threads, or else areas on the canvas that could be individually developed with chemicals. Carus was as fascinated by the quest as Abbott was, and in one 1909 letter, the dignified publisher made the astonishing suggestion that Abbott should determine matters definitively by arranging a séance and trying to catch the mediums redhanded, perhaps even breaking into the house: I do not know how far you would go in testing your hypothesis, but assuming your solution to be the correct one, you could at the moment when everything is ready for a séance pounce on them, and have the artist as well as the Bangs Sisters arrested on a charge of obtaining money under false pretenses. It would be necessary for you to have some friend go to the sisters and make arrangements for a sitting. He has to spy out where the window sill with the trap is, which window is used, so you can locate the place where the artists work underground. You must make sure of the several accesses to that place, whether it is in the basement, and whether you could enter without breaking through doors, perhaps through the windows by breaking the window panes. You ought to speak with the sheriff through whose authority you could make an entrance, and take a search warrant out against the Bangs Sisters and their accomplice so as to be able to pounce on them at the moment when a séance is going on. The arrest need not even be made, but only the utensils seized, the trap inspected, and the gauze material and whatever else there may be taken away. There is not even any necessity for carrying the matter before the court. You can drop proceedings as soon as they are at bay. It would certainly be a proof that your theory is right, which could not be contradicted by any believer. Abbott’s Solution Escapes As Abbott recounted in his story of the Spirit Portraits in The Book of Mysteries, English spiritualistic investigator William S. Marriott contacted Abbott in August 1909 to inquire about the Bangs Sisters’ paintings. Abbott innocently shared his findings, whereupon Marriott not only built the necessary equipment but also went on tour in England presenting the appearance of the paintings as a vaudeville act. In England, Marriott became acquainted with one of the Bangs Sisters’ most devoted clients, the decorated but self-deceiving British Vice-Admiral W. Usborne Moore, mentioned earlier as the author of Glimpses of the Next State. In 1909 and 1910, Moore had visited the mediums to contact his spirit guides Iola, Hypatia, and Cleopatra and had purchased several portraits. Typical of true believers, Moore discounted any reasonable explanations of the Bangs Sisters’ phenomena. Although Marriott showed him Abbott’s method for materializing the paintings, Moore steadfastly maintained that the sisters would never rely on such trickery and that their conditions at home were different from those of a stage performance. Moore had recently read Hereward Carrington’s exposé of the Bangs Sisters in the Annals of Psychical Science and denounced him in an issue of the spiritualist magazine Light in 1911. Carrington (with whom Abbott had already shared the correct secret) responded in Light (May 13, 1911): “…Mr. David P. Abbott and
151 myself worked together over this problem; but I was forced to stop at the time, owing to press of other matters, and Mr. Abbott continued his experiments alone. I think I am safe in saying that he has now succeeded in duplicating the Bangs Sisters’ portraits exactly — and by trickery.” Admiral Moore responded in Light: “The Abbott-Marriott trick is well known in England. I have seen it often, and it surpasses in skill almost every conjuring trick I have ever witnessed. When my friends ask me how the Bangs’ pictures appear to come, I say, ‘Go and see Dr. Wilmar’s spirit paintings.’” Moore also said that his friend Dr. Wilmar had taught him the secret of the paintings and claiming that Abbott was not the only discoverer of this method.“The method is known to me, and was known to me before I met Dr. Wilmar. It was found out by an exhibition of my own models, and by one of our best trance mediums…about the time it was discovered by Mr. David Abbott. I respect Mr. Abbott. He candidly owns that all his theories about the Bangs Sisters’ pictures previous to 1909 were entirely erroneous. I ask myself this plain question: Why has not this diligent conjurer been to sit with the Bangs Sisters? He lives within a reasonable distance. If he does sit with them, he will find his latest theory as rotten as his previous ones.” By this time, Marriott had licensed P. T. Selbit to perform the Spirit Paintings act and in 1911, Abbott saw his own solution being presented by Selbit, billed as the creation of Dr. Wilmar. The gentlemanly Abbott accepted Selbit’s explanation gracefully. That year, while Abbott was still attempting to clarify the final details of the mystery, two books were published discussing the Bangs Sisters: Moore’s 642-page Glimpses of the Next State and James Coates’ book Photographing the Invisible: Practical Studies in Spirit Photography, Spirit Portraiture, and other Rare but Allied Arts, which devoted an entire chapter to the Bangs Sisters. These works, which described the mediums’ séances in detail, may have supplied the pieces of the puzzle that Abbott needed. A few years later, Abbott completed his long essay on the Spirit Portraits, which The Open Court magazine published in April 1913. Later in 1913, Carus also released the article as a separate booklet, The Spirit Portrait Mystery: Its Final Solution. Popularity and Fade Selbit’s tour allowed many magicians to see the effect, and because its secret was not overly difficult to unravel when seen in person, a number of performers began to present their own versions. Vaudeville magician William J. Nixon performed his Spirit Paintings in his stage shows. An Australian painter named Henry Clive, who later became a renowned illustrator, toured with his rendition in the 1920s. Abbott’s hard-earned secret was soon common knowledge in the magic world. Nixon published the technique in his 1916 booklet, The Spirit Paintings. Will Goldston exposed the secret in his Annual of Magic 1915-1916. Alexander included the effect in his book The Life and Mysteries of the Celebrated Dr. Q in 1921. By the 1930s, Thayer’s Magic Company was selling a ready-made version in their catalogs. Nonetheless, this very visual effect is today rarely seen. Like many magic effects,
152 the Spirit Paintings can today be all too easily explained away by audiences as the result of electronics. As for the Bangs Sisters, by the time The Open Court published Abbott’s exposé, the mediums had largely dropped from sight. The 1920 U.S. Census showed May still living in Chicago but does not mention Lizzie. My research has so far revealed no further record of either sister. We do not know if Abbott’s revelations prevented the Bangs Sisters from duping more victims like A. W. Foreman, Charles Carson, or W. Usborne Moore. At the very least, however, it seems likely that once the Spirit Portraits hit the vaudeville stage, it would have been more difficult for any mediums, even the experienced Bangs Sisters, to convince a customer that their paintings came from the hands of spirits and not from their own.
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Judson Cole's Long-Lost Comedy Act By Todd Karr Judson Cole paved a comedy path for humorous magic acts with his wisecracking style in top vaudeville houses, and his KlingKlang routine with an American flag echoes in the ubiquitous Silk to Egg routine found in the standard repertoire of magic acts even today. His real name was Milton Greishaber and he lived from December 27, 1894 to October 2, 1943. The following record of his act is unsigned but we thank the unknown author for his diligence in preserving the words of this trendsetting performer! — Todd Karr
Cole makes appearance in “one” in snappy suit. “It’s customary for all high-class magicians — for all high-class magicians — to roll up their sleeves before commencing their tricks, proving there is nothing concealed in the sleeves, such as elephants, cannon balls, and other objects. You can see there is nothing con¬cealed in my sleeves except my arms, and I’ve had them ever since I’ve been a little boy and would not like to part with them. Laughter — none whatever. “For my first experiment this evening, I will Judson Cole, a top comedy performer of the use this deck of cards, showing you a few passes 1920s in card manipulation. The waterfall (drops a few cards, saying) — I always do that so you can see the spray. (Runs cards along left arm, tosses in air, and catches in right hand without dropping any, at same time saying) I could have done that the first time, but I would not have received so much applause.” Sometimes Cole varies first part of act, though using cards just the same, fakes five of them, vanishing by front-and-back palm, then producing one at a time. Also uses in either routine the reproduction of cards from fingertips, using the “snap” method sold by Gilbert. In addition, he also works one or two color-changes, finally doing the “Nonpariel” for a finish — this, too, as sold by Gilbert. “I wish to call your attention to the nature of the next experiment. First of all, I shall have a gentleman remove, secretly, a card from this deck. (Steps down in audience and addresses some gent as follows) Do you know anything about cards? No? Well, you are just the man I am looking for. Please remove a card and place it
154 in your inside coat pocket. Thanks, just hold onto it for good, for I will come back in a couple of hours. “I wish to call your attention to the next object used. It is the hand of an Egyptian princess who lived three thousand years ago. It is supposed to have been taken from beneath the pyramids of Egypt. If you will excuse me a moment, I will bring it out. (Leaves stage and finally comes back with Thayer board and rapping hand. All the time orchestra plays a slow, Oriental number.) This is the hand of the Egyptian princess, said to be 3000 years old. The princess was supposed to have been a spiritualist, and the hand still retains some supernatural power. For instance, it will answer questions by rapping. “Before going any further, however, I am going to pass the hand out for exam¬ination. Some say the hand is petrified, while others say it is made of wood. Personally, I wouldn’t argue the matter. Just pass the hand around. It’s a lady’s hand, so you can hold it as long as you wish. Now the board has nothing to do with the experiment — it simply acts as a sounding board for the hand to rap on. I will pass it out, too. Just pass it around and kill a couple of hours, also a couple of customers. That’s enough — you’ll wear out the board. Pass it back, please. Say, don’t look at that hand all night. I looked at a hand last night and it cost me $1.60. It was a different kind of hand — it was a poker hand. (Cole, holding the hand, says) The Egyptian princess lived during the antiphlogestine period. Of course, it is impossible to know much about the antiphlogestine period unless you have studied monotony. “How, then, the hand will tell us the name of the card selected by the gentleman. Keep your mind on your card, sir. You see, the hand reads your mind, so if you lose your mind, you’ll spoil the whole works. This is a good show we are having here this week. Of course, the show hasn’t started yet. Was the gentleman’s card a red card? (Hand raps Yes.) Was the card a Heart? (Hand raps No.) Then it must have been a Diamond. (Hand raps out number of pips on card.) The hand will now accept a little applause. Thanks — that’s little enough. “Some people say that I move the board, which causes the hand to rap. Now I am coming down among you and the hand will answer any questions you care to ask it, after which I’ll sell the medicine. This gentlemen here in the observ¬ation row — would you care to ask the hand a question? No? It looks like I will have to make a house-to-house canvass. Sorry I woke you up, sir. “The young lady here — wouldn’t you like to ask a question? Sure! Well, just make a wish and the hand will tell you whether or not you will get your wish. “This is crazy, but it’s a living. Are you concentrating? Now hold your right hand on this corner and your left hand on this corner. That prevents the board falling to the floor. (Hand raps Yes.) The hand says that you will get your wish. Does that make you happy? I’m glad to hear that. “Ah, the gentleman here — just hold the board with me. (Cole picks out a couple sitting together but feeling sure that they are not together — this is a wow.) Is the young lady married? (Hand raps No.) Ah, that brings a broad smile to the gentleman’s face. Is the young man in love with the young lady? (Hand says Yes.) Is the young lady in love with the young man? (Hand raps No.) That’s too bad. Well, if the young man tales the young lady out to dinner after the show, do you think that the young lady could learn to love the young man? (Hand raps Yes.) Yes, that sometimes helps a lot. Has the young lady any more sweet¬hearts? (Hand starts
155 to rap.) Please keep track and see if the answer is correct. (Hand continues rapping until Cole takes it off board.) While the applause is going on, I shall return to the stage. “Now, is there anyone else who would like the hand to answer any questions regarding oil stocks or other mysteries? The hand will be glad to misinform you. (Man — plant — in balcony says, “When will I get my watch back?” Hand raps Yes.) You will get your watch back — provided you haven’t lost the ticket. (Cole now turns board over and places hand on it in a standing position. Pretends to mesmerize hand.) Will some gentleman call out, aloud, the word GO? (Someone in audience says “Go.” Cole says “All right” and he exits. Gets rid of hand and board in wing end at once returns for final trick.) “This life is hard on us actors. I’m not exactly an actor, but I was on the stage once. I played in a show called Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp. I was the wick. It was a good part — I had to be all oiled up. “The next trick that I am about to present was invented by my friend Hook. Hook and I — were fast friends. First of all, I shall take this glass — better known as a tumbler, although it never does any stunts. In the glass I place one day’s work for a hen — an egg — cover it with this hanky and place it over on this one-night stand (hank pedestal). The reason I place it on this stand is for fear someone might accuse the glass of having no visible means of support. I got that joke out of the almanac. I think I had better put it back. “The next important character in this experiment is the American flag. It is not good policy to use the flag on the stage because the folks think you are trying to force applause. It is said that if one will wave an American flag, it will SURELY bring applause. (Waves flag slowly but no applause is forthcoming.) But of course, not always! I now wave the flag gently up and down until I get it into a small ball, give it a gentle squeeze, and in place of the flag, we have the egg, while in the glass is the flag, thereby causing much excitement and loud cheers of quiet. “I am now going to explain just how the trick is done, after which I’ll sing “The Rosary.” To begin with, the egg is hollow. In the egg is the A sketch of Judson Cole during his flag to egg routine flag that I vanished. There are two flags used. They are not the same, although they look alike. You see, you take the flag like this, working it into the hole in the egg until it is completely in. (While explaining and talking as above, his right hand goes into right trousers pocket several times to get audience accustomed to it, and on last time, he palms out of this pocket the good egg. Left hand is holding hollow egg with exposed hole to front.) This is really a good trick — in fact, it is a 36 cent trick. How then, in order to prevent the audience from seeing the hole in the egg, you turn the egg around until the hole is in the back, the celluloid from the front having the appearance of a genuine egg. Of course, if you should be accused of having a phony
156 egg, you can easily convince them that the egg is an honest-to-goodness hen’s egg. (During the patter and turning of hole in front to back, the right hand assists left in turning the egg, but actually the good egg is left in right hand and fake egg palmed off in right. He now picks up a little glass dish from table with right hand, at same time getting rid of fake egg in black art well.) You now take the egg and pronounce two magic words in Greek — burr toast — and there you are!” (Breaks egg in dish and proves it genuine. Makes exit to much applause.) Sometimes Cole varies the finale by using the old pudding in the hat instead of the egg trick as given above. In using this, he first borrows a “soft gentleman’s hat” and a lady’s hanky. He gets a boy and a girl to assist. When boy is introduced to girl, the boy is prompted to straighten his tie, push back his hair and act a little flustered. Hands egg to girl to examine. Prompts her to smell it (a laugh). Passes it to boy and prompts him to shake it and smell it. Takes it from boy and apparently hands it back to him but really palms it in right. Boy reaches for egg — it is gone. Produces egg from behind boy’s ear (a laugh). Sometimes he has boy search for egg. Boy can’t find it and finally Cole has him open his mouth. Palmed egg produced from his mouth — this is very good. Boy scratches head. Cole then places lady’s hank in hat. Puts ingredients in pan and gets lots of laughs out of it. Lights lady’s hank(?) for oven to bake pudding, finally producing kitten. He then presents boy and girl with tickets for next show and excuses them.
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Is This Erdnase? By Todd Karr Copyright 2006 Todd Karr
The man I am about to describe may be S. W. Erdnase, the mysterious author of the classic 1902 card work The Expert at the Card Table. But his story lacks many pieces of the puzzle and I am releasing this information now in the hope that readers may be able to perform the necessary detective work to either confirm this man’s authorship or disprove it as yet another false lead. I have been chasing Erdnase since I was a teenager. I’ve read the findings and theories of detectives like Martin Gardner, Richard Hatch, and others, and in sorting through the available information, it’s clear that any theorizing about the identity of a shadowy figure like Erdnase must rely on solid facts and common sense. His story is so intoxicatingly romantic that a number of writers (see Bart Whaley, The Man Who Was Erdnase) have succumbed to the temptation to follow
158 flimsy trails, offer wild speculation in the absence of evidence, and attempt to make the facts fit into unlikely theories. This is just plain sloppy journalism and historical research, and the man who wrote The Expert at the Card Table will never be found if we don’t stick to the facts. The truth is that we may never fully determine the author’s identity. He published the book under a pseudonym and any possible witnesses have long been dead, and unless we find evidence of someone involved in magic, gambling, or card work, we may be condemned to making educated guesses. The Basic Evidence The most solid evidence we have are the book itself and the 1940s recollections of its illustrator, artist Marshall D. Smith. These two sources offer us the following basic possibilities: 1. The author may have been named E. S. Andrews, reversing his name to spell “S. W. Erdnase.” 2. Based on the level of subtlety in his explanations, the author seems to have been highly skilled in psychology, deception, and of course gambling. 3. The author had some connection with Chicago, where the book was printed and published, and would most likely have been in the Midwest at the time of the book’s publication in 1902. 4. Erdnase had knowledge of the law or access to legal advice, judging from the elaborate copyright notices throughout the book. 5. The author may be characterized as intelligent (the prose is direct and perceptive), ambitious (based on the scale of the book), and meticulous about detail (he misses very few nuances in his explanations and appears to have handcorrected, or asked someone to correct, many of Smith’s drawings to improve their accuracy). Erdnase also seems to have lacked pity for the victims of con games (as we read in his book). 6. Erdnase also seems to have been in need of money at times, as he points out at the end of his introduction. As mentioned above, Marshall Smith’s illustrations seem to have been crudely altered by an amateur, an indication perhaps that Erdnase did not have sufficient funds to commission professional corrections. 7. Smith described Erdnase as well-spoken and gentlemanly, short of stature, with a pleasant, smooth tone. 8. Erdnase met Smith in a hotel room and paid for his artwork with a check, as Smith recalled. 9. Smith also said that Erdnase had mentioned a family connection to artist Louis Dalrymple. I will also add two other interesting elements, though these statements have not been authenticated in any way: 10. In the 1950s, magician Hugh Johnston told Jay Marshall that he had once played the Empress Theatre in Denver, Colorado, and that after one show, fellow performer Del Adelphia brought a man backstage and introduced him to Johnston as Erdnase. 11. Magician James Harto, based in Indiana, claimed to have been friends with Erdnase and to possess letters he received from Erdnase.
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I believe that any candidate for being Erdnase should correspond as closely as possible to the above elements. The man I have recently focused on matches many of these criteria. My training as a journalist has conditioned me to be skeptical, and so I very cautiously present the following facts as possibilities only. However, I have shared these findings with a number of current Erdnase scholars, and they agree that this candidate is exceptionally strong. Kokomo, 1901 On November 23, 1901, shortly before the publication of The Expert at the Card Table, the Fort Wayne News reported on a scam perpetrated in Kokomo by “A stranger giving his name as E. S. Andrews of the Brandon Commercial Company, Chicago.” The news report stated that the con man had a clever collections-agency scheme that succeeded in bilking forty local merchants and physicians. Andrews had come to Kokomo three weeks prior and convinced the businessmen and doctors to hire him to collect their debts. Each participant paid Andrews a “membership fee” of $15 (or about $900 total). The newspaper reported that “Before leaving, Andrews collected several accounts from debtors, all of which he took with him, the merchants or physicians receiving nothing.” We thus have a candidate whose name is a precise reversal of the pseudonym S. W. Erdnase, a con man based in Chicago who was clever enough to swindle businessmen and doctors, and someone who appears to have had over $900 in his pocket just before The Expert at the Card Table was published. Dubuque, 1902-1903 Late the following year, we find E. S. Andrews in Dubuque, Iowa. In December, the Dubuque Telegraph-Journal announced the new local address of the Charles Brandon Commercial company at the Bank and Insurance Building, noting that "Mr. E. S. Andrews is in charge." A month later, Andrews had fled town with over $1500 in $25 membership fees and collected debts. As the Davenport Republican reported on January 31, 1903, the swindled subscribers were reluctant to admit they had been conned. One of the professionals stated:"We were all a lot of suckers and should not have let Andrews go as long as we did. He did not live up to the contract he made with me, and I understand that he did not live up to the contract he made with others. I was to pay him a commission of five percent on all collections made on current business, and he was to get 10 to 25 percent on all debts that he collected. I gave him my note, and so did other members, while others paid down
160 their $25 fee. "I estimate from the number of subscribers he had to the 'Charles Brandon Commercial Agency' that he must have got out of town with from $1500 to $1800. He would have no trouble in negotiating the notes. "His subscribers included lawyers, doctors, and businessmen. He was to make reports of collections every twenty-fours hours and remit a check for the amount collected, after the commission was deducted, but he forgot to make the report and send me the check." Incredibly, the article continues, Andrews was arrested but not only avoided charges by threatening the witnesses (probably with a countersuit), but also managed to have his accuser held responsible for the costs of his arrest. As the swindled businessman explained: "One of the subscribers had Andrews arrested and got the worst of it, because two or three others were afraid of the bluff made by Andrews. The subscriber paid the costs, amounting to $2.50." Fort Wayne and Oshkosh, 1904 E. S. Andrews appeared again in Wisconsin in 1904 pursuing the same scam, only this time the law caught up with him. Andrews had set up another collections scheme as the Charles Brandon Company, in association with a local law firm, Finch and McPhall in the Pixley-Long block in Fort Wayne. Andrews again skipped town with membership fees and debt sums, returning to Indiana, the scene of his 1901 swindle. Oshkosh Sheriff M. K. Rounds (the Fort Wayne press gave his name as "J. M. Rounds") was sent to arrest Andrews, who was working in association with a law firm. The firm protested his extradition and the Wisconsin lawman was forced to get permission from Indiana’s governor before being allowed to arrest Andrews and bring him back to Wisconsin for trial. Andrews was arrested on July 7, 1904 on a warrant from Justice Skelton and was held
161 awaiting the arrival of the Wisconsin sheriff. Four days later, Andrews left Fort Wayne at noon in the custody of Sheriff Rounds. The Fort Wayne Evening Sentinel reported that Andrews had not only embezzled money, he had also used his notices of collection to purchase "a number of diamonds and other articles." The newspaper noted that "Judge O'Rourke was called upon to remand him into the custody of the Wisconsin sheriff on a requisition honored Saturday by Governor Durbin." We have the extreme good fortune that a Daily Northwestern reporter interviewed Andrews in his jail cell in Wisconsin and quoted him at length in an article in the newspaper on July 12, 1904: “Mr. Andrews was seen by a Northwestern reporter this morning while in jail. He is a bright-looking young man whose appearance is that of a shrewd and honest businessman. He said he did not care to talk for publication, but in answer to questions and in the ordinary conversation, he did say to the reporter: ‘This is the first time I have ever been arrested. The jail here is a palace compared to that in Fort Wayne. That is a bad place to be in. ‘I did not read the complaint against me and do not know exactly the technical charge against me. In a general way, I know what it is, but I say technically, I have not ascertained. ‘I believe in being philosophical, however, and while I should not be pleased to stay here long, I can stand it for a time if I can have plenty of reading matter and plenty of fresh air. ‘I shall have good legal counsel, but I do not think I will need it. I have nothing to fear and believe I could go into court representing myself and convince the court that the law is on my side. ‘So far as my not going under my own name in Fort Wayne is concerned after leaving here, that will have no effect in the case. It may, to the outsider, give rise to the opinion that I was trying to hide, but while that is true, I had no idea I was wanted here on a criminal charge. ‘What I did here was business and in a business-like way, and I could have been found by letter at Fort Wayne without the sheriff coming after me.
162 treated me very nicely indeed, and while I shall be glad to leave him and his custody, I shall remember the kindnesses he has shown me.’ “Sheriff Rounds is loud in his praises of the assistance rendered him by Superintendent of Police Henry Gorseline at Fort Wayne, and the latter held onto the prisoner in the face of all the efforts made by lawyers to free him.” A number of characteristics of Andrews seem to closely match our Erdnase fact list: clever, intelligent, deceptive, well-spoken, a reader, knowledgeable about the law, and described as bright-looking young man. In addition, he was living in Indiana, which would support Indiana resident James Harto’s story of knowing Erdnase. He also apparently used a fictitious name, although the seemingly media-savvy Andrews took pains to deny this in a note published the next day in the Daily Northwestern: “It was incorrectly stated in your account of an interview with me that I was known while in Fort Wayne under an assumed name. I was known there as E. S. Andrews, representing the Charles Brandon Commercial Company: This is my name and the company is the same as I represented here, and I never used any other name and do not intend to. Yours truly, E. S. Andrews.” On August 8, The Oshkosh Trial 1904, the Daily Northwestern reported, Andrews was charged in Oshkosh Municipal Court with embezzlement. The original charge had been filed by fur merchant E. F. Steude, who had been bilked of $108. The hearing had already been postponed due to the absence of a prosecution witness, attorney A. C. McPhall, one of Andrews’ legal associates in the scheme. The following day, a Daily Northwestern article announced that after intense arguments by Andrews’ defense attorneys — Maurice McKenna of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, and E. P. Finch of Oshkosh — the judge had found adequate cause for Andrews to stand trial on embezzlement charges. This news report states that Andrews took many precautions to be able to legally justify his financial shenanigans. Andrews had clients sign contracts with a fine-print clause
163 authorizing him to make deductions from monies collected. He also had clients make out their checks to his partner, who then paid Andrews (who, we will note, deposited them in a bank - remember, Erdnase paid Smith with a bank check); in court, Andrews claimed innocence by stating the attorney had never paid him the full amount of the money collected. Here again, we note Andrews’ shrewdness. Finally, in a footnote of possible support for the Hugh Johnston story, the article also specifies that Andrews had incorporated the Charles Brandon Collections company in Colorado and was its manager. Bail was set at $2000 and promptly posted by his legal team. Further procedural challenges from Andrews’ attorneys delayed the trial until matters were cleared up sufficiently on August 17, when municipal court Commissioner W. W. Waterhouse concluded Andrews must stand trial. On August 23, Andrews appeared in municipal court, this time represented by attorney Henry Fitzgibbon of Menasha. The trial was adjourned until August 27. The trial was either prolonged or postponed, since it was not until September 28 that Andrews was finally found guilty of embezzlement, though for a reduced sum of $37.50. The trial took place in Milwaukee, and the jury took only a half hour to reach their decision, the Daily Northwestern reported on September 29: “The jury, in view of the whole circumstances, found that Andrews was working what is popularly known as a ‘graft’ and that he willfully retained the amount charged against him. The penalty for the offense is from six months to one year imprisonment in county jail or state prison.” All the above information is from the Daily Northwestern, which covered the trial with regular news articles. The court sentenced Andrews to eight months in jail. As the Fort Wayne Sentinel stated on October 14, 1904, Andrews had already spent four months in custody, and the judge noted this in his sentencing. Chicago, 1907 On July 14, 1907, the Chicago Tribune reported that E. S. Andrews had again set up a collection-agency scam, this time in connection
164 with attorney W. V. Tyler as the Tyler Company. The duo received dues of between $40 and $50 from over 62 merchants before collecting debts and pocketing the funds. Tyler was arrested for obtaining goods under false pretenses and embezzlement. However, the newspaper stated, “Andrews has disappeared.” Denver, 1911 The last possible trace I've found of Andrews is a Denver listing in 1911 for a "Brandon Commercial Club" in the Colorado State Business Directory. Was this the same phony collections agency Andrews had set up over the previous decade around the Midwest? Remember that magician Hugh Johnston had claimed to have met Erdnase in Denver. Continuing the Search Here the documentation ends. I requested any existing municipal court records from Andrews’ Oshkosh case and received copies of two large docket sheets that basically recited the facts I have already given in the news reports above. Unfortunately, they contain no further information on Andrews, not even a first or middle name, just “E. S.” But many potentially fruitful avenues remain to be searched. I am hereby calling on any interested magic scholars to investigate the following areas and see what they might discover: Indiana: Newspapers, business, and police records in Kokomo and Fort Wayne related to Andrews’ 1901 scam and his later 1904 extradition process and arrest (the governor’s office may also have records relating to the grant of extradition). Wisconsin: Newspaper, business, and police records in Oshkosh detailing Andrews’ swindle as the Charles Brandon Commercial Company and relating to his 1904 trial. The records of the lawyers and police officials connected with the trial may also be helpful. Illinois: Newspaper, business, and police records connected to Andrews’ Tyler Agency activities, the 1907 arrest of his partner Tyler, and Andrews’ departure from Chicago. Colorado: Newspaper, business, and police records that might shed light on
165 Andrews’ claim that the Charles Brandon Commercial Company was incorporated there. I hope any interested parties will keep me updated of their progress and let me know if I can be of any further assistance. This may be our man. I hope we can find out for certain. Todd Karr
166
Psychopathic Suite for Piano and Triangle By Todd Karr An excerpt from Roy Benson by Starlight by Levent and Todd Karr. On a cold day, January 17, 1914, the man we now know as Roy Benson made his debut in Paris. His mother, dancer Dora Ford, had been on the road touring European music halls with her sister Mabel and living on Rue Buffault in the working-class Belleville district of the French capital during the last days of her pregnancy. Since her teenage years in the 1890s, Dora had danced onstage in a duo with her younger sister Mabel, and later with his brothers Max and Edwin in their acclaimed song-and-dance quartet, the Four Fords. But since 1905 she had been in love with Eddie Emerson, a comedic juggler and magician who romanced the popular dancer with occasional trysts and frequent Roy Benson in the 1930s letters, phone calls, and telegrams. Now they were in Europe together welcoming their new son. Eddie Emerson Edward William McQuaid was born around 1883 and began using the stage name of Eddie Emerson as early as 1903. He was about thirty when he married Dora Ford on March 31, 1913 in a rushed ceremony in Hollidaysburg, Pennsylvania, squeezed between Emerson’s multiple performances at the Le Roy Orpheum. A local newspaper reported the next day: The marriage was to have been pulled off on the quiet, but the artist who can handle a dozen things at once on the stage had to call on Ed Keane, proprietor of the Le Roy, for assistance and it leaked out. At 4:55 Miss Ford, in company with her mother, arrived here from Pittsburgh. The office of the prothonotory at Hollidaysburg closes at five o’clock, but here the assistance of Mr. Keane was valuable. He hustled to Hollidaysburg and had the license filled out before the couple arrived there. Mamma Ford raised strenuous objections to such a hurried arrangement, but the near-groom, whose face still showed some of the black cork used in the Orpheum act, unceremoniously hustled her and her charming daughter into the taxi cab, and after a fifteen-minute run, they arrived at Hollidaysburg, had the license, and were on their way to the home of the Reverend Boggs, the “marrying parson” of
167 Hollidaysburg. Without any frills, they were joined in wedlock and returned to the Le Roy, where a wedding dinner was served. After dinner, Mamma Ford, seeing that her presence wasn’t of monumental importance, returned to Pittsburgh, the groom went to the theater to do his stunts, and his bride of an hour perched herself on a trunk back of the stage and beamed at her “hubby.” If truth must be told, Emerson, whose real name is Eddie McQuaid, was a mighty poor juggler last evening, but the management excused his fumbling when he declared that he would have his nerve back in time for the shows today.
Slightly more than nine months later, Dora gave birth to their son. His lengthy name was recorded a few days later at the Courbevoie city hall: Edward Ford Emerson McQuaid. The family paused for a photo in Birmingham, England with baby Edward in his father’s arms before returning to America around July and more tour dates. The infant was often left in the care of Dora’s mother in the Bensonhurst area of Brooklyn when the dancer was performing around the country. Roy Benson as a baby with his parents, The marriage of Dora and Eddie Emerson Dora Ford and Eddie Emerson must have been difficult with both parents on the road. Until the end of her life, Dora preserved a 1918 telegram from Emerson: “Darling Dora…glad to forget our quarrel and start again. Am working in Brooklyn and also feeling lots better now. Glad baby is well. Lovingly, Eddie.” As early as 1907, Emerson had been touring vaudeville houses with partner Jerry Baldwin in an act of burlesque magic and juggling, a partnership that lasted over 25 years. In The Sphinx in 1919, Dorny called them “one of the finest nonexposé comedy magic acts.” Their humorous slogans included “Emerson and Baldwin: Vaudeville with a Vengeance,” “Interestingly Idiotic,” “Grotesque Dexterity,” and “Baron Emerson and Count Baldwin: The No-Ability of Vaudeville,” but the self-deprecating billings were deceiving. They came onstage like comedians and played for broad laughs but also presented skillful magic and club juggling. Years later, Roy would brilliantly mirror this tactic, opening with gags and ending up a master magician in the eyes of his audience. In a review of a 1912 run at the Tivoli Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, Charles Waller reports in Magical Nights at the Theatre (1977): “Into their act of excellent juggling, they introduced several conjuring tricks. A plate shattered in consequence of a juggling disaster, was crammed into a blunderbuss, and fired into the heart of a picture frame; there, it appeared intact. They also showed the running comedy effect known at that time as the Australian Wonder Plant. A large plant of the sunflower variety grew with each successive watering until finally it reached proportions of Jack’s fabled beanstalk.”
168 A 1915 review mentioned that Emerson performed in blackface (although this tactic was eventually dropped) and took slapstick blows to his head. Their skill and humor took them far, and in 1920, they played the big-time Palace (as Roy Benson also did years later). Felsman’s Magical Review called the act “screamingly funny.” Eddie Emerson and Jerry Baldwin Emerson’s partner, Jerry Baldwin, was apparently an ace manipulator, and in one sequence performed card effects. As Billboard noted in 1925, “Baldwin’s work with the pasteboards attracted many of the local magis to the theater.” A Sphinx review said, “Jerry is one clever boy with the pasteboards. One time, when the baggage failed to arrive, in place of their regular number he presented a fifteenminute card act….” Baldwin must have made at least a small impression on young Edward McQuaid, soon to be Roy Benson. Changes The challenging show-business marriage between Dora and Eddie did not last and the couple was divorced. By 1921, Dora remarried; her new husband, Gustav Schirmer, was the wealthy head of G. Schirmer, the sheet-music publishing giant. This marriage was also shortlived, lasting until 1929. Dora received a hefty $150,000 settlement from Schirmer, who later good-naturedly wrote to his ex-wife: “It was indeed an expensive marriage.” Emerson remarried around 1927 and continued touring with Baldwin. In 1932, he appeared with his second wife as “Baron and Baronness Emerson” but also continued performing with his longtime partner Baldwin as late as 1935. As movies gained prominence, Emerson Eddie Emerson in costume played smaller and smaller venues. In 1933, he was living at the Continental Hotel in Los Angeles, a favorite of show-business acts, and recalled to the Los Angeles Times how vaudeville performers initially disdained movies, which soon swept many of them out of their careers. He recounted visiting his friend Harry Cohn in his little bungalow and mocking his early movie productions. Cohn was soon the mogul at the head of Columbia Pictures and Emerson was working small-time clubs. Emerson died in Hollywood in 1969, with no notice in Variety or any major newspaper. The show-business world seemed to have forgotten this clever performer, who had given the world one of its greatest magicians. His former wife Dora died in 1978 at age 92.
169 The Young Magician Little Edward Ford Emerson McQuaid, the future Roy Benson, grew up surrounded by show business. Decades later, when he created magic effects for the musical Carnival!, the program noted: “For generations on both sides, all the members of Roy Benson’s family have been of the theater: actors, comedians, dancers, and, if you go back far enough, a proprietor of a circus. He is the first member of the family to become a magician and he doesn’t know why except that magic has always been fascinating to him.” Among the audiotapes of Benson we found during our research, we were lucky enough to uncover one in which Benson describes the beginnings of his magic career in the early 1920s:
My interest in magic was first aroused during my early grammar-school days. I would put myself at approximately the age of seven. I was given a box of tricks, which utterly fascinated me, and I remember it as well as if I had just received it yesterday. My interests were further increased by watching a magician perform in the local public school, and at the time the magician performed, to me at least, he seemed to be all things to all men. As soon as I saw these tricks, it was more than an aroused interest; it became an almost total obsession. There were times when I thought of nothing but tricks. I visited magic shops, pored over magic catalogs, read a few books on the subject, and by the age of ten I had acquired a number of tricks, some of which were of professional Roy Benson as a young man at military quality, and was actually performing tricks for school fellow students in grade school at the age of ten. During those early years, I would perform magic without much persuasion. I would perform before the Boy Scouts, the Fourth of July celebration, usually at no fee, but whenever there was the least possibility of performing magic. Around 1924, at age ten, young Edward added a set of one-inch billiard balls to his horde of effects. Fascinated, he practiced constantly with the tiny props until a disapproving schoolteacher confiscated them. “I managed to palm the ball and shell, but she got away with the remaining two,” Benson recalled years later, adding with cutting wit: “It was probably the first time in her life that she had ever been that close to two such objects. She refused to give them back to me, which was further proof of my Freudian suspicions, so I decided to buy a new set.” The youngster visited Bob Sherman’s magic shop in New York’s Grand Central Station. He recounted his story to Sherman, who sold Benson his first proper set of 1¾-inch billiard balls at the bargain price of 75 cents. Sherman instructed Benson in a few moves, which the boy diligently rehearsed, even at the cinema.
170 Soon afterward, Benson witnessed his first real billiard game when his uncle took him to a pool room. Struck by the impressive look of the balls, Benson decided to move up to two-inch billiard balls, forcing him to alter his sleights and in the process finding more effective moves. By this time, Edward’s parents had divorced and Dora had remarried. Edward was sent to military school, but his passion for magic nonetheless grew and led to his first real stage performance in the annual show of the Garden Players, a local theatrical group in Forest Hills, New York. As he later recalled in one of his tapes: It was the first time I appeared before a really large audience with a real spotlight on me. I worked in one and did the same act, slightly improved, from my grammar-school days. I would exactly describe it as a completely rotten act, but I think it would be best to describe it as a reasonably mediocre performance. I had, however, one saving grace — my youth — and audiences will forgive youth for such indiscretions, which only goes to prove one thing: If you get a bunch of tricks and learn how to do them, and follow a patter book and use (jokes) linefor-line right out of the book, you, too, can enjoy that complacent state of mediocrity which I enjoyed for many a year to come. Of course, the big show was once a year, but I didn’t have to wait a year because they would frequently allow me to perform at the monthly meetings. During this period, I emulated the greats, the near-greats, and the not-so-greats.
Nate Leipzig and Eddie Emerson had performed on the same bill in 1918 and remained friends. When Benson was 14 in 1925, his father went to see Leipzig’s opening show in Los Angeles, accompanied by his partner Jerry Baldwin, magician Werner “Dorny” Dornfield, and vaudevillian Joe Keaton, film star Buster’s father. When Leipzig called for a committee of volunteers, the quartet of entertainers arose and strode onstage. A few years later, Emerson’s son became one of the few lucky pupils of the gentlemanly sleight-of-hand master. As Roy Benson recalled: Because of the fact that I came from a theatrical family, I got the break of a lifetime. Through them, I met the great Nate Leipzig. The first time I met him was at Beechhurst, Long Island. At the time, I was about seventeen…during that period I would see Nate as often as three or four times a week, and frequently we would spend the weekend together. Benson's teacher, the great Nate Leipzig
As one newspaper reported a few years later, “Leipzig suggested certain tricks and Benson perfected them.”
171 Roy Benson Begins By 1932, eighteen-year-old Edward McQuaid had decided he needed a catchier billing and had begun performing under the stage name Roy Benson. Although he never recorded the origins of his assumed name, Benson may have been influenced by a pianist for the Ford show named Roy Barton, and Charles Reynolds has told us that “Benson” came from the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn where the former Edward McQuaid grew up. The newly dubbed Roy Benson started working his way up the show business ladder. In an audiotape, he later remembered: I continued my early career by playing what might best be considered the middle ground of the entertainment world. By that I mean small nightclubs where the fees are usually low, and small theaters where the format of the bill consisted of a feature picture and about five acts of vaudeville.
A teenage Roy Benson in an early publicity photo
Benson was slowly developing his style. His teacher Nate Leipzig had inspired him to learn flawless sleight-of-hand, and he began combining his manipulative effects with his collection of apparatus magic — including the Chinese Sticks and the Vanishing Birdcage —
into a commercial act. But he had also learned the value of comedy from his father, Eddie Emerson. As he developed his persona, Benson gradually found that his sly sense of humor had great charm onstage. The wry, urbane delivery of comedian Frank Fay had a major influence on his style, too. Fay had inspired another of Leipzig’s students, Fred Keating, who since 1929 had been making a name around New York by combining magic — such as his featured effect, De Kolta’s Vanishing Birdcage — with his version of Frank Fay’s slightly sarcastic style. Like many New York magicians, Benson was inspired by Keating’s persona and created his own form of the quick-witted-yet-elegant approach. The mix of skill, magic, and comedy became Benson’s angle and set him apart from his colleagues. As Sphinx editor John Mulholland concisely described it later, Benson had “discovered his real forte in the art, which is the presentation of adept manipulation to the accompaniment of clever, very humorous patter.”
172 In September 1932, Benson was featured in his first large-scale show, a showcase for young performers called Belmont Varieties at the Belmont Theatre in New York City. Despite his polish, however, reviewers quickly pointed out how much Benson’s witty style reminded them of Fred Keating, especially since Benson was performing the Vanishing Birdcage in his act. On September 29, 1932, the New York Times gave Benson a less-than-flattering review: “A magician by the name of Roy Benson unabashedly borrows not only Fred Keating’s tricks but also Mr. Keating’s patter. He does the tricks well enough, but his attempts at bland comedy are, to put it mildly, terrible.” In The Sphinx, Bernard Ernst agreed when Fred Keating, pioneer comedy magician he mentioned “…a young performer, Ray (sic) and film actor Benson by name, who unfortu-nately used many of Fred Keating’s effects and some of his patter.” But Roy Benson worked hard on his act and a few weeks later, featured in Manhattan Varieties at the Cosmopolitan Theatre, the New York Times gave him a begrudgingly higher grade: “The young magician by the name of Roy Benson again imitates Fred Keating, and this time gets away with it a shade better.” In the summer of the next year, in July 1933, Benson traveled to London and performed at the Leicester Square Theatre in a show called Dark Doings, a mostly black revue now remembered for introducing the classic Harold Arlen song “Stormy Weather.” The British press gave Benson a positive review: “Roy Benson, hailing from America, scored with nonchalant conjuring and neat billiard-ball manipulation.” After one show, the great English magician Arnold De Biere came backstage and complimented Benson’s ball routine. Benson later said in one of his tapes, “It was an honor that I shall always cherish. It felt like a burst of applause, coming from a master manipulator whose skill, especially with the billiards, was famous all over the world.”
173 With such encouragement, the thin, young magician steadily grew more polished. Over the next few years, he worked around New York and neighboring states in nightclubs as both a magician and emcee, evidence of his blossoming stage presence. By February 1935, Frank Lane wrote in The Linking Ring: “This Roy Benson, who everyone is talking about, is a clever talker and does an interesting act.” In May that year, he played the Cocoanut Grove Roof Garden at New York’s Park Central Hotel as both performer and master of ceremonies and earned a pleasant mention in the New York Times as “a personable young magician known as Roy Benson.” But after a few years, his career was not A 1930s portrait of Roy Benson advancing beyond these club engagements. As Max Holden later recalled in The Linking Ring, Benson “was around in New York City doing well with his magic and emcee and always wanted to play one of the top spots, but somehow he just could not make them.” Benson in the Movies Roy Benson’s creativity had expanded into other disciplines. He played piano, studied acting, and became fascinated with photography, taking artistically stylish still lifes and portraits. After purchasing a basic movie camera, he began to explore the world of cinematography. In 1935, Benson’s mother, Dora Ford, was visiting Hollywood and suggested that Roy might find work there as a cameraman. When Benson arrived in California, he applied for a job behind the camera but also shot a screen test as an extra for an advertising film. The movie world ignored Benson. He managed to perform his magic act at the Ambassador Hotel, but after two months of waiting for any kind of film-related job, he returned to New York for a nightclub engagement at the Riviera. Two weeks later, his mother gleefully came to the theater with a telegram from Hollywood. As Max Holden reported the story in The Linking Ring: The test that he made was really for an advertising picture, but it just happened that when the test was being shown, a picture scout was there and he immediately saw (such) possibilities in the appearance of Roy Benson that he bought out the rights from the advertising picture to put him as a feature player in moving pictures, and no doubt Roy won’t want a job as a cameraman after all. Several years prior, Fred Keating had begun his own Hollywood career, costarring in several minor movies. His sarcasm made him perfect for humorous roles, and he often performed magic as an added touch. Columbia Studios apparently saw equal potential in Roy Benson.
174 Benson’s first movie role was the comic-relief wise guy in The Lady Objects, a dramatic musical produced by Columbia, eventually released in 1938, starring Gloria Stuart in the then-novel role of a female attorney. As George Martin, a bandleader and amateur magician, Benson was charming and believable in moments of both drama and comedy. His film career appeared to be off to a promising debut. The role also gave Benson the chance to perform some of his magic onscreen. His two magic sequences are humorous and a good Benson and Lanny Ross in "The Lady contrast to the film’s music and dramatic plot. In Objects" one scene in a nightclub, he takes a break from conducting the band to perform the Chinese Sticks, allowing us to see the original two-stick version of his routine. In another scene, he performs a few billiard-ball manipulations, including his ball roll, as well as his complete Hugard Newspaper Tear, the only record of his routine for this effect. While he awaited the film’s eventual release in 1938, Benson kept busy with nightclub and revue shows, notably a brief stay on Broadway at the Vanderbilt Theatre in New Faces of 1936, starring comedienne Imogene Coca. His press reviews kept getting stronger. A Los Angeles Times article in 1938 reported: “Laughing at himself all through his magic stunts, Roy Benson has a slick line of talk as well as of sleight-of-hand. His tricks aren’t new, but his humor is, and his manipulation of props is especially smooth.” Benson’s movie career did not advance. In fact, it would be six years until he was again seen on screen. His increasing dependence on alcohol may have been a factor, and his failure to succeed in the film industry undoubtedly worsened the situation. Whatever the case, he continued performing in nightclubs around the country. In 1939, he emceed for Benny Goodman’s appearance at the Victor Hugo in Los Angeles. As World War II neared its end, Benson went on tour in 1944 to promote the opening of the film Wilson with other movie actors, including Carmen Miranda and Roddy McDowell. But he remained in the shadows until 1944, when he had a secondary role, again as smart-aleck comic relief, in Sweet and Low-Down, produced by Fox. In this vehicle for popular bandleader Benny Goodman, Benson plays saxophonist Skeets McCormick. Benson mimes playing the sax perfectly and has a number of funny lines. At one point, the female lead rolls her eyes after a Benson wisecrack and sighs, “Oh, you and that off-beat comedy!” On the heels of this performance, the magic press announced that Benson was filming an M-G-M musical, Diamond Horseshoe. It looked like his luck had changed. But when the film was released in 1945, Benson’s role turned out to be a single scene at the end of the movie, and he wasn’t even billed in the credits. At the climax of Diamond Horseshoe, Benson’s character is backstage when he is recruited to pretend to be gravely ill in a ploy to save the show. After the ruse succeeds, he reveals that his supposed rescuers have stretched him out on a pile of tacks, which protrude painfully from his posterior. The scene was an
175 undistinguished end to a promising career. Master of the Stage Roy Benson nonetheless continued to rise in the world of live stage shows. He performed in bigger and classier venues around the country, including the Latin Quarter in New York, the Empire Room in Chicago, the Casino Nationale in Havana, and the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco. These nightclub years brought Benson experience and many adventures. Benson’s friend Bruce Elliott recalled two outstanding incidents: Roy was working in a gambling hall out west for two or three weeks and in due course of time became friendly with the light operator. Said operator took Roy upstairs to see his lights. Roy saw the spotlight, which was, as is usual, mounted on a universal joint. The only unusual thing was that directly below the spot was a chopper — machine gun, that is. When Roy quaveringly asked how come, the light man proudly pointed out the advantage if a gunman was to hold up the joint. All that would be needful would be to center said bad boy in the spotlight — and pull the trigger. Roy went back downstairs and for the remainder of his stay did his billiard-ball roll knowing that he was in the sights of a machine gun Or the time Roy was working in Havana and a drummer in a rumba band became intrigued with the American magician, became so intrigued that he began to give drum rolls whenever Roy made a ball appear or vanish. This, of course, is a kind of corn that went out with George M. Cohan and the flag-waving finale, so Roy asked through an interpreter if the drummer would mind not doing it. Somehow it got garbled in the translation. The drummer continued to make with the sound effects as Roy did his vanishes and reproductions. Roy finally gave in to the inevitable and figured there was no way to stop all this. Then it got worse. The drummer, being behind Roy, began to get hip to where Roy was making the steals from — so the drum roll would sound off at just the point where Roy wanted no suspicion aroused. Very salutary, Roy says it was. Says he doped out more new ball sleights on that engagement — trying to fool the drummer so as to avoid the giveaway drum roll — than on any other occasion. Roy Benson, master of the billiards
Benson was rapidly gaining a reputation as one of the greats in the art and an intimate of experts like Cardini and Vernon. Ted Annemann, an enthusiastic fan, wrote in a Jinx review of one 1941 show: Streamlined, ultra-sophisticated comedy magic. If you are a straight-faced, oldhat hocus-pocus man, don’t — if you value your life — ever follow Roy on. You’ll get laughs in all the wrong places. His incisive burlesque neatly extracts the
176 excelsior from all the stuffed-shirt magicians you ever saw and leaves them as limp as so many discarded egg bags. He leaves his audience limp, too — with laughter. Benson works on the radical assumption that present-day audiences are halfway intelligent. Some of you boys had better pick up the cue, because it begins to look as if maybe he’s right! This audience didn’t want to let him go at all.
Roy Benson and the Chinese Sticks
After a 1942 dinner in honor of Orson Welles at the Hotel Henry Hudson in New York, Stuart Robson wrote in The Linking Ring that “Roy Benson, emcee, presented the most beautiful routine with balls this reviewer had ever seen.” The nightclub owners and their customers appreciated his work, too. As Mike Kanter reported in The Linking Ring in 1942, “Roy Benson has become a ‘habit’ at the Walton Roof, continuing his run into many weeks and still going strong with added duties as emcee besides his own magical presentations. He is constantly adding new items and keeps the
patrons coming back for more.” In 1943, when he was held over at the Troika in Washington D.C., the Washington Post reported: “It’s a pleasure to be baffled when the baffling’s done by such an ingratiating young scamp as Roy Benson, magico at the Troika. His tricks are swell…but his chatter is a panic.” In his spare time, Benson continued taking photos and playing piano. In a few intriguing 1946 news items, Benson was reported to be collaborating with screenwriter-director Rodney Amateau on a musical revue to be produced at the Blis-Hayden Theatre in Los Angeles, though we have found no trace of it having been completed or produced. Hugard’s stated: Most of us think of Benson as a magician, yet a top-ranking Coast musician listened to musical works composed by Benson and urged him to hide away and finish the works in progress, claiming that Benson’s work is reminiscent of Debussy. Benson, in Hollywood until recently, has sold a musical to Fox Experimental Theatre. Bruce Elliott also noted: “Must say we agree with a paragraph of Fred Braue’s a while ago about Roy’s piano and composing ability. Quite a kid at the 88 is Roy. We particularly like his ‘Psychopathic Suite for Piano and Triangle.’” Repeat Engagements As Benson played longer engagements and enjoyed repeat bookings, he expanded his repertoire, trying out many new effects as encores and second-string features. By the late 1940s, he felt he had enough material to begin writing a book, as Bruce Elliott and Milbourne Christopher reported in the magic magazines. Christopher also published a brief sketch of Benson in The Linking Ring in
177 1946: His all-time favorite magician: Nate Leipzig. His most embarrassing moment (I quote): “Watching Dante doing the billiard balls.” His present magical idol: Dai Vernon. His ambition: “I’d like to live in Flosso’s shop. Don’t believe there’d be room for me, though.” In 1948, Bruce Elliott announced that The Phoenix would soon feature a new Benson routine, one that would eventually become one of his most popular effects: the Benson Bowl Routine: “…a cup-and-ball routine using only one cup. What’s more, it uses a little dream of a sponge-ball sleight that you’ll use for more than this routine. Wait and see.” His reputation as a knowledgeable magician was growing, and in New York in 1948, Benson gave what was perhaps his first lecture. As Hugard’s reported, Benson “pointed up the foolishness of calling work with 1½-inch billiard balls ‘work’; advocated the use of two-inch balls. Deplored, too, hand-washing manipulations. A fine talk, they say.” Magicians began to consider Benson a top humorist as well, and consistently called on him to emcee their club events. Magic magazines regularly reported his anecdotes, such as this one from The Phoenix: “Roy overheard two magis standing next to the Strand talking and one said, ‘How long have you been laying off?’ The other wand-wielder replied, ‘Three years and four months. If this keeps up, I’m going to have to get out of show business.’” In December 1948, Benson married an exotic female dove performer, Lola Wilson. She had previously been wed to magician Leon Mandrake, who dubbed her “Narda” to mirror the heroine of his comic book inspiration, Mandrake the Magician. The marriage was short-lived. Benson found a letter from his wife’s lover and divorce was granted in 1952. The official story released to the newspapers was that she paid more attention to her doves than her husband. An article entitled “DoveDancer Wife Cooed Only for Birds, Mate Says” in the Los Angeles Times reported: Comedian Roy Benson was granted an annulment from his dove-dancer wife Lola Wilson Wednesday after he told a Supreme Court referee that his wife’s billing and cooing was strictly for the birds. He said Lola uses twelve doves in her dance act, all male and all named after an ex-husband or ex-boyfriend. He said she spent their wedding night “billing and cooing with the birds.” “You have a point that dovetails with the court’s,” the referee said in granting the annulment. A New Phase The next year, Benson’s career seemed back on track. In August 1949, he made his first appearance on Ed Sullivan’s important television variety show “Toast of the Town,” performing his comic vanishing-flower gag, the Chinese Sticks, and his six billiard-ball routine. In September, he finally played the most prestigious vaudeville engagement of all,
178 the RKO Palace in New York City, and his success there led to many repeat engagements. The reviews were uniformly strong. The Billboard critic, for example, wrote: “Roy Benson got the show into high gear. His magic tricks, mostly standard, including his billiard ball and salt bits, were handled as smoothly as ever. But it was his mad chatter and throwaway effects that really sold him. He got yocks time and again, finishing way ahead.” In 1951, Benson began formulating plans for a magic school, as various magic magazines reported. He apparently wanted to set up his courses in a studio at Carnegie Hall, where his uncle Max Ford ran a prominent dance school. Although Benson did not create a formal magic academy, he did give private lessons. Among his lucky students was Ricky Jay, to whom he taught his billiardball routine. Connye In 1952, just prior to his final divorce decree from Lola, Benson began dating contortionist Connye Shearer. Born Constance Ruth Scherrer in 1929, Connye studied dance as a teenager in Pennsylvania. When she saw a contortionist at a local nightclub, she realized that she had the flexible joints required, so she taught herself contortion stunts and developed a nightclub act featuring acrobatics and her twisting poses. Connye moved to New York City on her own and struggled to make a living. To make ends meet, she took a job assisting magician Bill Neff, worked at trade shows, and assisted a juggling act while wearing roller skates. For six The beautiful and flexible Connye Benson memorable weeks one year, she worked with a traveling carnival; she wrote a long letter about her experience there, which magician and author William Lindsay Gresham published in his book Monster Midway, concealing Connye’s identity. Connye eventually perfected a nightclub routine in which she dressed as a French maid and performed contortions on her serving cart. She used her toes to pour herself a cup of coffee, add sugar, and stir the beverage, then picked up the cup between her feet and sipped cheerfully. She was also a talented illustrator and an excellent photographer. In short, Connye was the perfect counterpart for Roy. He was fifteen years her elder, but they fell in love and after a long courtship finally married on July 26, 1955. Throughout the 1950s, Benson continued to deliver strong performances at the Palace. Billboard reviewer Bob Francis wrote: An outstanding contribution is made by Roy Benson, whose legerdemain equals his salesmanship of it. Benson attempts nothing particularly showy, but what he does do is so excellently integrated with comic timing that it makes the slickness of his sleight-of-hand the more of a stand-out. This pew-sitter has never seen the
179 multiplying pool-ball routine more effectively projected. Later that year, the Billboard critic enthused: The best news about the current bill is the return of Roy Benson to repeat the solid customer click that he made last summer. Even if Benson wasn’t the helluva good magician that he obviously is, he would still be a good comic. The combination of the two is irresistible. Why he has been spotted in fourth place in a generally weak line-up is something to wonder at. Next-to-closing would seem his logical billing in this week’s show. His Palace success led to other bookings at top nightspots: the Paradise Room in Atlanta, the Normandie Room in Montreal, and the Olympia Theatre in Miami. Benson played the Flamingo in Las Vegas in 1952. In 1953, Benson began performing a groundbreaking routine in which he stretched out on the stage and talked to the audience as if it was his therapist. This psychiatrist segment was not only daring and funny, it was strikingly cerebral, far ahead of its time in an era in which comedy was still mainly jokes and sight gags. This progressive routine only enhanced Roy Benson during the Psychiatrist Routine Benson’s act, and the Palace continued to rehire him. In 1954, Billboard again lauded Benson: “Nobody in the business, in this reporter’s opinion, can top Benson’s artistry in manipulating the cue balls, and he has sharpened his patter to draw spontaneous customer chuckles.” What audiences didn’t know was that Benson had indeed been seeing a psychiatrist. His alcoholism had spiraled horribly, but through treatment, he had managed to get his drinking under control. In its place, however, he became a regular user of sleeping pills for most of the decade. He fell off the wagon for a few years as well before finally getting sober in the early 1960s through Alcoholics Anonymous and staying alcohol-free for the rest of his life. A sad incident occurred at a magic meeting at the Art Director’s Club in New York in February 1954. Dr. Jacob Daley finished performing one of his expert card feats and sat down in the audience. As Roy Benson began performing his act, Daley slumped over, dead of a heart attack. In Benson’s stage career, the rave reviews continued. From Billboard, July 1954: Also repeating — and he must have been practicing assiduously, since he is better than ever — is magician Roy Benson, maestro of the sticks and tassels and best in the business at billiard-ball manipulation. Benson has developed a great sleight act. Comedy projection continues to improve and salt shaker wind-up is sock as always. In August, Benson again appeared on Ed Sullivan’s “Toast of the Town.” He
180 was also a guest on many other television shows around this time, including the popular “Garry Moore Show,” Paul Tripp’s “It’s Magic,” and Esther Williams’ “Saturday Spectacular” special. One of Benson’s close friends in New York during this period was Jay Marshall, another Palace performer. One day they visited Cardini, which must have been a fascinating afternoon among three such great magicians (and with two such great ball manipulators present). Marshall had recently begun publishing The New Phoenix. Benson’s astonishing coin vanish, Banished, was in fact the very first effect in the premier issue. Benson was named “Editor Demeritus,” and when Marshall briefly left for England in 1955, he left Benson and his new wife Connye in charge of the next two issues. The couple filled these two editions with Connye’s carefully drawn explanatory illustrations and historically accurate Egyptian hieroglyphics and Native American designs. Benson explained the Leipzig Drop, a deck switch, and other gems from his repertoire. One fiasco during this productive period was an October 1955 booking as a comedy act during the “South Sea Isle” number of Tropicana at Radio City Music Hall, a predictably poor fit. As Hugard’s Magic Monthly reported, “The producer decked him out in an outlandish costume to fit the fiesta scenery. Opening day, the producer saw the extravaganza before an audience and Roy vanished from the bill.” Vaudeville was on its last legs, overshadowed by movies and then television. Nightclubs were the new venue of choice for live entertainment, and in November, Benson began performing at the very top, the chic Blue Angel. Variety approved in one Blue Angel review: “Program is opened by Roy Benson, who minimizes the prestidigital facets of his turn in order to lay on some highly rewarding banter. Deft in his timing and smart in use of his comic lines.” Benson also began diversifying and performing cruise-ship dates to Nassau and South America. Connye accompanied him and probably performed her own act as well. As the 1950s ended, Victor Sendax asked a mysterious question in The Linking Ring: “What’s all this about Roy Benson and his missus currently building a huge monster for a movie studio?” Benson in the New World The 1960s brought Roy Benson into several new domains that took advantage of his multifaceted creativity. Benson’s cousin Jack Curtis, a film editor and voice-over artist, had decided to try his hand at producing a movie and began work on a low-budget horror film called The Flesh Eaters. He recruited Roy to be director of photography, but Benson soon decided to decline the position and instead help his cousin with special effects. Roy’s main task on The Flesh Eaters turned out to be a gigantic tentacled sea monster, which he constructed himself, crowning it with a huge eye that looked like a giant white billiard ball. When he had completed construction, Benson loaded the sizable prop into a pickup truck and drove it to the seaside shoot location. On the way, Benson stopped at a diner for lunch and parked the truck while he was inside eating. When he emerged, a startled crowd had gathered around the back of the truck, thinking a fisherman had caught some horrible sea creature.
181 The Flesh Eaters starred Martin Kosleck, a German actor known for his roles as Nazi villains. The film finally reached theatres in 1964 and has become a B-movie cult classic. The end credits include “Roy Benson: Special Effects.” Benson’s magic also went in a new direction as the decade opened. In March, he and Connye debuted a strikingly original routine, later referred to as their Siamese Act, that combined their talents into an amazing new combination of contortions, artistic magic, masks, Asian costumes, and dance, which they presented for the first time at the Brooklyn Academy of Music at the S.A.M.’s annual show on March 18, 1960, billed as “Connye and Roye.” The magic critics recognized how truly innovative this act was. In The Linking Ring, Victor Sendax described their routine: …Roy, this time assisted by his wife, Connye, presented a startlingly original act to the accompaniment of a taped musical background, utilizing very effectively diverse themes from the scores of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I, Aaron Connye and Roy Benson in their Siamese Copland’s Billy the Kid Ballet, to mention a few Act of the musical elements. Appearing as some mystic Oriental species, the pair utilized magical props and tricks as parts of a weird sort of ritual, through which Connye moved serpent-like, performing all manner of strange bodily gyrations and contortions. Here was a creative and challenging act effectively demonstrating magic does not have to be cut-and-dried and hackneyed in its viewpoint. Bravo! Aside from another performance of the Siamese Act at the combined I.B.M.S.A.M. convention that summer, however, the act was perhaps too far ahead of its time to be commercial, and Benson and Connye returned to their regular acts. Roy appeared regularly at top nightclubs like the Blue Angel, performing with wellknown comedians like Woody Allen and the Smothers Brothers. Benson also landed a challenging job as “designer and supervisor of magic and illusion” for the musical Carnival! which ran on Broadway from 1961 to 1963, winning two Tony awards. The simple-to-perform magic sequences Benson created for the character Marco the Magnificent included a cigarette vanish and reproduction, a single card production using a backpalm, Match to Flower, Silk to Cane, and a Sword Cabinet routine in which the magician and his assistant sang a duet. When Marco presented his act, he brought three audience members onstage and produced a bowl of goldfish from one lady’s hat, performed a shirt-pull, and produced pastry and sausages from another lady’s purse (along the way, he also magically removed the panties of the actress playing his assistant!). Benson later noted that, like many actors, James Mitchell — who portrayed Marco in the original production — easily mastered the basics of effectively performing magic. In his autobiography Illusion Show, the great David Bamberg (Fu Manchu) reported that in the 1960s he had been engaged to create magic for a Buenos Aires production of Carnival! but found that Benson “had done such an excellent job and
182 made such a wide selection of tricks that there was nothing for me to do except follow his routine.” In 1967, Benson appeared on several television shows: a Garry Moore magic special; “The Today Show”; a special called “Monday Morning Magic”; and the new “Mike Douglas” talk show. But Benson was starting to slow down, mainly due to his compulsion for cigarettes. His good friend Charles Reynolds was head of the photography department at the School of Visual Arts in New York City and hired Benson to teach a basic photo class. To supplement their income, Roy and Connye both became photographers for GAF, taking photos for slides used in the company’s Pana-Vue projector. Roy also photographed subjects for GAF’s Viewmaster threedimensional viewer, such as scenes from the television vampire soap-opera Dark Shadows. Although he performed an occasional show in the early 1970s, Benson’s heavy smoking had caught up with him. There is a tape of anti-smoking advice from Leon Mandrake among his personal audiotapes, and in his papers is a 1966 news article on emphysema entitled “The Battle to Breathe,” but nothing had seemed to help him quit. Now it was too late. Benson was so weak that he was housebound for almost three years. Connye was forced to find other work to support them. Her unusually petite feet allowed her to become a foot model. To make ends meet, she also took a job with an encyclopedia company. In late 1977, Benson’s condition worsened and he was hospitalized. Six weeks later, on December 6, 1977, Roy Benson died of emphysema at age 63. In 1985, Connye shifted careers again, completed a paralegal course, and began work as an estates and trust paralegal at a law firm. In her spare time, she helped abused and abandoned animals. On March 28, 1996, Connye Benson died at the age of 66.
183
The Cigarette And Dollar Bill Once more we bring this old-timer forth but after you read this see if you can beat it for simpleness and effect. A spectator opens a new pack of cigarettes and after examining them a cigarette is removed, marked and placed in the performer's mouth. A bill is borrowed and the spectator writes down a number and initials the bill before the performer even touches it. The bill is destroyed in a most open manner, the cigarette being lighted just before this event. The cigarette is now identified by its mark and, while still burning, is broken open and the bill is removed. When handed back, the owner is asked to identify the bill by marks and number. Take a new pack of cigarettes and open it from the bottom with a safety razor blade. Remove one cigarette and after removing enough tobacco insert a rolled dollar bill, not a new one or an old one, but half way between. Put the cigarette back into pack, remembering which it is from top and seal up the pack with a little glue. Make a neat job of it as it has to stand a look but not much as they always look at the seal and top. Have in your pocket a letter size envelope with a slit along the centre of the face and inside it a piece of paper the size of a folded bill. A candle is sitting on your table at your right and several matches in your left trouser pocket.
Go into the audience and hand the pack out with a request for it to be opened, you starting it at the right side as they are usually opened only a little. Watch closely and have him hand you a cigarette, you can tell if it is the right one and if not just hand it to someone to show the cigarettes are ordinary and ask for another. You may have to do this three or four times, but not more, until you get the right one. The audience takes it for a
184 joke and you are pattering about being generous, etc., and when you get the loaded one say you'll have to quit because you have already exceeded your expense account. Hold the cigarette between your fingers and have a person mark it and place it in your mouth.
Now borrow the dollar bill and after it has been noted and marked walk back to the platform with the bill in the air and the cigarette in your mouth. Pick up a match and light it (here you get a laugh) but light cigarette and candle. Fold the bill several times and taking the envelope, with the flap to the front, openly insert the bill. It should come out of the slit into your left fingers which are behind envelope. With your right hand fold down the flap and hold it in front of the candle and then into the flame. Here is the perfect misdirection as they will all look at the bill and your left hand with the bill will casually go into your left trouser pocket as you watch envelope burn. After the ashes are scattered go into audience, still puffing the cigarette and have it identified by the marks. Step back or onto the runway and break the cigarette open and unroll the bill. Now is the subtle move for which I thank my good friend John Sardo of Elmira, N. Y. Nine times out of ten the audience will begin to applaud when you unroll the bill and you bow and ask them if it is a very nice experiment, at same time pocketing the bill and starting back towards the stage. This gets a good laugh and of course you act surprised and then remember the borrowed bill. Go back into the audience and return it, having the gentlemen identify it, but of course when you put the bill in your left trouser pocket and then withdraw it you exchanged it for the original and there you are!
185 Derren Brown’s Magic Square
The Effect: A spectator gives you a random number and you're instantly able to create a magic square of numbers in which all rows, columns, diagonals and corners total his chosen number. The Secrets: This looks absolutely mind blowing when performed well but is technically easy to achieve. The diagram below shows the basic framework for the square:
The numbers shown in the above square will always be present, whatever random number is chosen. You need to memorize the order and positions of those numbers. The grey squares A to D are where you will add additional numbers to complete the magic square. If like me you have a terrible memory, write the basic framework of the magic square using very light pencil in the corner of your notepad or flip chart. It will be visible to you but not to your audience. To begin, ask for a random number between 25 and 100. Let's say your spectator chooses the number 37. Subtract 21 from the number given (in this example, we get 16) and put it in position A.
186 Then add 1 to this number and put in position B. Add 1 again for the number in position C and finally 1 again for the number at D. In our example, we finish up with the magic square shown below:
Look at the resulting square and you'll see that all rows and columns total 37 - the spectators chosen number. Also, both diagonals total 37. The numbers at each corner also total 37. And the four 2 by 2 squares at top left, top right, bottom left and bottom right also total 37 (e.g. 8, 11, 16 and 2; 17, 1, 7 and 12 etc.)! Actually, there's more! Choose any 3 sided square and the numbers at each corner also total 37 (e.g. 8, 17, 3 and 9)! Although this may seem like a simple concept, Derren Brown used a magic square effect as the encore for his 2004 UK tour and got a standing ovation!
187
COLOUR CHANGED By Richard Robinson
Changing the color of a playing card by passing a hand over the face of the card was once a staple effect among conjurers. This dates from the time when cards had no corner index to disrupt the visual change of color. Although color changes have gone out of fashion, the various sleights used to accomplish them have not, since the sleights involved secretly add a card to the top of the deck. One particular color change sleight is encountered in most introductory magic books. The deck is held, faces out, in the left hand. The closed right hand covers the deck and when it moves away the face card has changed. This is accomplished by the left index finger sliding the bottom card of the deck up, the right hand palming it and then depositing it on the face of the deck. While this sleight is reasonably effective, it isn't that difficult for the spectators to figure out, since the right hand curls and uncurls as the card is palmed and then released. Chris Van Bern's Colour Change By all indications Chris Van Bern is the inventor of the original sleight on which the description above is based. However, Van Bern's method was significantly different in that the card was never actually palmed and thus the hand remained in the same position throughout the illusion. Van Bern first published his Colour Change in the 1914 edition of the 'Wizard's Annual' and then again in 1919 in 'A Whirlwind of Wizardry' which he co-authored with De Vega, another performer of the period. It is interesting to note that by 1919 Van Bern was no longer using the move as a color change but rather to make selected cards appear on the face of the deck. Handling
188 The deck is held in the left hand, one long side of the deck resting on the fingers, the other held by the thumb. The right open right hand, with fingers together is brought over to cover the face of the deck.
As this happens, the left first finger pushes the back card of the deck up and then into the right palm. The left index finger remains extended, holding the card against the right palm. The right hand does not palm the card.
The the card makes contact with the right palm, the left hand turns at the wrist, pivoting around the left first finger tip, until the face of the deck is visible below the right hand. This is done to give the spectator's one more look at the face card. The extended left first finger is masked by the right hand and the deck during this movement.
The left hand then turns back, pivoting around the left first finger tip, until the deck is behind the right hand.
189
In swinging the deck back behind the hand, the left first finger is pulled away and the deck itself is used to hold the card against the right palm. The deck is turned and squared up so that the card behind the right palm is now the face card of the deck. The right hand moves away from the deck, the right fingers spreading.
As right hand moves away the face card of the deck is seen to have changed. Display Variation
Once the card has been moved from the back of the deck into the right palm, the left first finger can slide the card back towards the right wrist. This allows the right fingers to open as the deck is swung down and the original face card shown.
190 Performance Notes Once you've got the general idea of this and curbed the natural magical instinct to curl the right hand into palm position, the deceptiveness of this sleight will be apparent. The deck can be swung up above the hand rather than below it, during the show once more move. It is also possible for the card being held to be positioned toward the back of the right hand in more of a gambler's palm location as shown in the variation above. This allows the right fingers to spread slightly during the moves. Van Bern suggested that the fingers of the right hand be held wide apart as the hand is placed in position so that the face card could be seen through them, then closed before the change.
BALL & SILK MYSTERY By Richard Robinson
The magician picks up a silk handkerchief from his table and opens the handkerchief out to display both sides at his finger tips. The handkerchief is draped over his left hand. Slowly and mysterious a large red ball rises up out of the center of the handkerchief.
The ball is wrapped in the handkerchief, the handkerchief is tossed into the air and
191 the ball vanishes ... as if it had never existed to start with. Props A ball approximately 1-3/4 inches / 45 mm in diameter as used in the Multiplying Billiard Balls and other stage manipulations. A ball made of wood or hard plastic is recommended. An 18 inch / 33 cm square handkerchief. The ball and handkerchief should be of contrasting colors. The silk handkerchiefs sold by magic dealers is ideal, although any cloth square of light weight and good drape will do. Setup The bunched handkerchief is on the table with the ball behind it. Handling
The ball is behind the bunched handkerchief on the table. The left hand picks up the handkerchief and ball, concealing the ball.
The hands open out the handkerchief, the ball is held in the left hand.
Performer's view of the ball concealed as the handkerchief is displayed.
The arms shift to the right, moving across the body.
The ball is held between the base of the left hand and chest, allowing the hand to move forward and open.
The arms cross, showing the back of the handkerchief. The ball palmed in the left hand is not visible.
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The handkerchief is draped over the left hand. The right hand 'adjusts' the drape.
The right hand goes behind the handkerchief, then under it, the thumb guiding the way, and the ball is dropped into the right hand.
Performer's view of right hand catching ball.
The right hand, first finger extended, moves over the top of the handkerchief. At the same time the right thumb presses against the ball.
Exposed view of the palmed ball. The right first finger pokes an indention into the top of the handkerchief. As this is done, the left thumb moves from in front to behind the ball under the handkerchief.
The first finger appears to press down the center of the handkerchief.
Exposed view of the ball, ready to rise, but as yet not visible to the spectators.
The ball mysteriously rises up out of the handkerchief. This action is controlled by the left thumb and fingers gently squeezing the ball.
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The right hand takes hold of a back corner of the handkerchief and raises it.
The left hand opens under the handkerchief and slides forward, the ball on top of the handkerchief traveling with it. The ball and hand approaching the front edge of the handkerchief. The right hand does not move during this action.
The handkerchief travels back, the ball rests on the open left hand. The performer pauses so the spectators can focus on the ball. The handkerchief is then draped over the right hand.
The left hand approaches with Exposed view of the ball classic the ball and tilts back as if palmed. rolling the ball into the waiting handkerchief covered right palm. In fact, the left hand classic palms the ball.
The right hand closes and turns over, the handkerchief falling down so that it appears the right hand is holding the ball through the handkerchief.
The right hand shifts position The handkerchief is tossed into grasping the handkerchief below the air, caught and shaken open the center as if trapping the ball. by the right hand to show that the ball has vanished, then opened out between the hands.
The handkerchief is bunched with the ball concealed behind it in the left hand and returned to the table.
Routine Phase 1
194 The left hand reaches over and picks up the handkerchief, at the same time taking hold of the ball so that it is held loosely in the palm of the hand. This hold is similar to the classic palm without any pressure being exerted on the ball. Facing the spectators, the left and right hands come together in front of the upper chest and to the right of the center of the body. The left and right fingers unfold the handkerchief until one corner can be clipped between the left first and second fingers. The right fingers then slide along the edge of the handkerchief, moving to the right at the same time, until they hold the adjacent corner. This opens the handkerchief out so that it is being displayed between the hands. As the handkerchief is opened out, the magician turns his shoulders slightly to the right. The left hand moves back to the chest and presses the ball between the palm of the hand and the chest. The left fingers open out and the left hand is moved toward the right. The ball, trapped between the palm and the chest, rolls along the back of the palm. This movement stops when the ball is positioned between the heel of the left and and the chest. With the ball out of view, the left fingers can be spread apart. The right fingers also open out. The magician looking toward the right hand, gives the handkerchief a slight shake. Phase 2 The left hand moves back so that the ball rolls into the palm of the hand where it is classic palmed. The right hand follows the left hand's movement. The front of the handkerchief is kept parallel to the spectators. With the ball in a classic palm, the left and right hands continue moving to the left until both arms are extended. The magician's shoulders turn left and tension is maintained by the hands to keep the handkerchief open taut between the hands. Although the left palm is now toward the spectators, the left fingers are curled over it and the edge of the handkerchief covers them, hiding the ball. The left hand releases its hold on the handkerchief and moves down behind the handkerchief to its center and then starts moving up. The right hand lets go of the handkerchief. The handkerchief is now draped over the left hand. The top of the left hand should be at shoulder height, the left arm half extended to the left of the body. Phase 3 The right fingers pretend to adjust the corners of the handkerchief hanging down around the left hand. As the this is done, the left arm swings to the right until the handkerchief draped left hand is at the center of the chest. The right fingers have
195 moved as well, getting a light hold on the hem of the handkerchief closest to the magician and working their way under the handkerchief until the right hand is under the draped handkerchief. The left hand releases its hold on the ball, dropping it into the right hand which classic palms it. The right hand moves back down to take hold of the handkerchief hem. The left arm swings to the left, the right hand moving with it so that the back of the right hand remains toward the spectators. The left hand then swings back to the right, the right hand moving up until it is directly behind the left hand. During this movement, the left hand opens out so that it comes to rest on the back of the right hand, almost cupping it. The right hand, now hidden from the spectators, turns palm toward the left hand so that the ball rests on the handkerchief and through it on the left palm. The right fingers open out and point up, then curl down over the left thumb, as it pushing the center of the handkerchief down into the left fist. In fact the right fist and second fingers have arched over the left thumb and moved down to contact the top of the ball through the handkerchief. The right thumb is pressing against the bottom of the ball. Once the right fingers and thumb are supporting the ball, the handkerchief covered left thumb swings around the left of the ball and behind it, pressing the ball through the handkerchief against the left palm. The right hand moves away. The ball is now below the top of the handkerchief covered left fist, held in place through the handkerchief by the left thumb, and not at all visible to the audience. Phase 4 The left hand moves up to eye height, extended a foot or so in front of the magician's face. The left hand stops. The left fingers and thumb now slowly work the ball up until it is resting on top of the left fist. The ball appears to rise up out of the handkerchief. Once the ball is visible, the right fingers take hold of a corner of the handkerchief and move up. The left hand lowers a few inches. The left hand opens palm up under the handkerchief. The right hand pulls the handkerchief slowly back and up. This causes the ball to roll down the handkerchief and come to rest in the open left palm as the handkerchief is pulled away. Vanish The ball rests on the open left palm. The right hand holds the handkerchief. The right hand moves to the left hand so that one corner of the handkerchief can be
196 clipped between the left first and second fingers. The right hand then moves right to open out the handkerchief so that it can be displayed front and back. In one continuous motion, the right hand releases its hold on the handkerchief, the hand opens and swings toward the front center of the handkerchief. The left hand releases its hold on the handkerchief. The result is that the handkerchief is now draped over the right hand, the hand itself being palm up under the handkerchief. The left hand moves to the right, back of the hand turned toward the audience and appears to drop the ball onto the handkerchief covered right palm. The right fingers curl up as it holding the ball through the handkerchief. In fact, the ball is simply classic palmed in the left hand. The right hand turns over and grasps the supposed ball through the handkerchief. With practice this can be done so that the handkerchief bunches enough at the center to momentarily look as if the ball is inside the handkerchief. The handkerchief is tossed into the air and caught by the right hand. The ball has vanished. The right hand shakes out the handkerchief. Then the right and left hands take hold of the top corners and show the handkerchief back and front, using the moves described in the production phase to keep the palmed ball hidden. The right hand bunches up the handkerchief and places it on top of the ball in the left hand as the left hand opens. The right thumb presses the ball against the back of the bunched handkerchief and raises both slightly so the open left hand can be titled toward the audience. The right hand uses the bunched handkerchief to dust off the left fingers. The left hand takes hold of the bunched handkerchief and ball and sets them down on the table, ball to the back. Performance Notes The moves used here are easy to master, most of the manipulation being hidden by either the handkerchief or body position.
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TRANSPORTATION By Richard Robinson The magician takes three small coins out of his pocket and drops them on the table. He puts two of the coins in his left hand, which close around them. He puts the third coin back in his pocket.
He opens his left hand to show the third coin has magically traveled from his pocket to join the other two. Again putting the three coins on the table, he again places two in his left hand and the third in his pocket. Giving the left hand a slight shake, he opens the hand to show that it now holds three coins. Suggesting that perhaps those watching aren't quite following what's going on, he again places two coins in his left hand and one back in his pocket. Once the spectators confirm that seems to be the case, he opens his left hand to reveal one large coin, the three smaller coins having vanished completely. Transportation is a variation of the Two In The Hand, One In The Pocket routine. It is entirely impromptu, requiring only four small coins such as U.S. pennies or dimes and one larger coin for the finish. The four small coins should be in the same condition so one cannot be told from another.
198 Setup The five coins are together in a pocket. It is best to keep them in a side coat or jacket pocket so the hand can move in and out of the pocket easily and quickly. Handling
Exposed view of the four coins taken out of the pocket by the right hand.
Unseen by the spectators, the thumb holds back one of the coins.
The right hand tilts over the left hand to release the three coins.
The fourth coin is held back in the right hand as the spectators see the three coins for the first time.
The three coins are displayed on the hand.
Then the three coins are apparently placed in the right hand. In fact one of the three is held back in the left hand.
The three coins are show in the right hand.
The first of the three coins is put into the left hand, the fingers curled up to hide the coin already there.
The second of the three goes into the left hand, which closes around it. The third visible coin goes into the pocket.
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The left hand is opened to show that it contains three coins. This two into the left hand, one into the pocket sequence is repeated.
The third time around, the right hand leaves the small coin in the pocket and brings out the large coin finger palmed.
The right hand picks up the first of the three coins from the table and displays it at the thumb and first finger tip.
The right hand moves over the cupped left hand.
The large coin is released from the finger palm and drops unseen into the left palm.
The right hand apparently puts the first small coin into the left hand. The thumb slides the coin down off the first finger ...
... and onto the tip of the second finger. The thumb presses the coin against the ball of the second finger tip.
The spectators' view (with the first finger raised slightly) shows the coin is hidden behind the thumb pressing against the second finger.
The second coin is picked up from the table.
200 The right hand again turns so the fingers are pointing up and goes to the left hand to deposit the coin.
The coin held by the second finger and thumb is released to fall into a finger palm.
The visible coin is brought down by the thumb behind the fingers until it clicks against the first coin.
As the right hand comes out of the left hand the two coins are held by the curled in fingers.
The third coin is picked up and the hand raised palm toward the spectators. The third coin is seen at the thumb and finger tip, the other two coins are hidden by the curled fingers.
After the visible third coin and two palmed coins are put in the pocket, the left hand opens to reveal the large coin.
Routine The routine consists of three phases with the handling details varying slightly in each phase. In learning the routine it is a good idea to practice each phase independently and then run them together when rehearsing the presentation. 1. The right hand goes into the pocket and gathers up the four small coins, holding them in a loose finger palm with the hand partially open. Give the coins a shake as the hand comes out of the pocket so the coins spread slightly across the fingers. The back of the hand is towards the floor, the curled fingers hiding the coins from view. The palm up left hand is raised, the head turning to look at the hand. As this shift of focus takes place, the right thumb tip moves down on one of the coins to press it against the right fingers, then the right hand turns over so the three remaining coins fall into the open left hand. The left hand makes an up and down shaking motion, so the coins bounce on the hand. Once the coins are separated, the left thumb tip moves down onto one of the coins, pressing it against the fingers. At the same time the left hand turns over to the right, letting the coins fall into the right hand which turns up to receive them. Since there is already one coin in the right hand, to the spectators it appears that you've taken three coins from your pocket and tossed them from one hand to the other and back. The left hand drops away, the fingers curled in a bit to conceal the coin it holds. The right hand places the three coins on the table. The right hand picks up one coin and places it into the left hand which has come up to receive it. The right hand takes the
201 second coin and places it in the left hand. The left fingers close around the coins. The right hand picks up the third coin from the table, closes loosely around it and goes into the pocket. Shift your focus to the closed left hand. Make a shaking motion with the left hand. As the right hand is coming out of the pocket with the finger palmed coin, open the left hand to show three coins in the hand. 2. Bounce the coins on the left palm until the coins are separated. The left hand now turns over to the right, the left thumb tip coming down on one of the coins to hold it against the fingers. The right hand moves up with its finger palmed coin to receive the coins from the left hand. The right hand opens out as the transfer is made so the spectators see three coins resting on the open right palm. Place the three coins on the table. The first phase handing is now repeated. The right hand picks up the first coin and drops it into the left hand. The right hand picks up the second coin and drops it into the left hand. The left hand closes around the two coins. The right hand picks up the third coin and goes to the pocket. When the right hand is in the pocket, it drops the coin and picks up the large coin in a loose finger palm. Again the loosely closed left hand shakes the coins and opens to reveal three coins. At the same time the right hand comes out of the pocket with the finger palmed coin. 3. The right hand goes over to the left hand and the right fingers collect up the three coins on the left palm, holding them by the finger tips and places them on the table. The right hand is kept palm down as it does this, hiding the finger palmed large coin. The right first finger and thumb pick up the first coin on the table. The coin is held at its edge by the tips of the first finger and thumb. The right hand moves over to the palm up left hand. As the right hand moves, the right fingers are brought together. Once the right fingers are behind the slightly curled up left fingers, the large coin is released to drop into the left palm. At the same time the right thumb slides the small coin over so it is held between the thumb and second finger tip. This leaves the first finger free and the small coin hidden completely by the pressed together tips of the thumb and second finger. Swing the right hand to the right to pick up the second coin from the table. As the right hand moves, the left fingers curl over the large coin to hide it.
202 The right first finger tip and thumb now pick up the second coin from the table. This requires some practice since the thumb tip is pressed against the second finger tip holding a coin. Once the second coin is held at the thumb and first finger tip, revolve the right hand so the finger tips are up. The finger / coins position is the second coin is visible, held by the tips of the thumb and first finger. The first coin is held directly below it by the ball of the thumb and the tip of the second finger. The third and fourth finger are slightly open. From the front it appears that there is only one coin held by the thumb and first finger tips, the second finger curled in under it. The right hand moves to the left hand. The left fingers uncurl as the right hand turns fingers down. The right fingers are brought together and the hidden coin is released by the right second finger to fall into a finger palm. Then the visible coin is released to also fall into the finger palm. This will cause an audible click as if the two coins have been dropped into the left hand. The right hand moves away and the left hand closes, apparently around two small coins. The two coins should now be resting one on top of the other and held in finger palm at the bottom of the right third finger. The right hand picks up the last coin on the table between the thumb and first finger tips, then swings up so the palm of the hand is open and facing the spectators. Look directly at the coin at the finger tips. The right thumb and first finger extend up holding the coin. The other three right fingers are curled down, hiding the two finger palmed coins from view. This s quite deceptive. The right hand now goes to the pocket to gently deposit all the coins. The closed left hand is extended forward. The empty right hand comes out of the pocket. The left hand is opened slowly and then stops moving. The large coin is revealed resting on the left palm. Performance Notes To ensure a successful performance, the handling should be practiced for quite some time before doing the effect live. The sequence of events is convincing and at first the routine may seem easier than it actually is. Keep working on it until complete control is acquired for every move.
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Like a Hole in the Head! Effect The phrase "cough it up" takes on a whole new meaning with this coin trick! Supplies You Need •
A Coin
Setup You should practice a few times before you perform. No other set-up is needed. How to Perform
Bend over and show the audience the top of your head. Tell them, "You know the saying, 'You need that like you need another hole in your head?' Well, sometimes having an extra hole in your head comes in handy-- and I do!" As you tell them this, you will be performing a quick and easy vanish with the coin. Hold out your hands, palms up. Rest the coin on the tip of the second and third fingers of the right hand. Holding the coin in place with your right thumb, turn your hand so your palm faces down, then raise it above and to the right of your left hand. Put the coin in the center of your left palm. As you take away your right hand, (the coin is still held between the thumb and fingers of your right hand) hold the fingers together. Then close the fingers on your left hand, as if you were closing them over the coin. When you pull away your right hand, the fingers of your left hand, as they close, should lightly sweep against the back of the right fingers. Move your right hand away a few inches from the left. Then cup the second, third, and fourth fingers, leaving the index finger extended. Tap your left wrist with the right index finger, and let your right hand drop to your side (the left hand is still cupped.) To your audience it should look like your left hand is now securely holding the coin. Bring your left hand above your head and lightly slap the top of your head. At the same time, bring your right hand to your mouth and cough loudly. Bring your left hand down from your head and let the audience see the coin drop from your right hand into your left. "My doctor hates it when I do this," you can say. "But what else is an extra hole in the head good for?"
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Hanky Stand-up Effect Make a handkerchief move up and down at your command as if it is standing up. Supplies You Need • •
Handkerchief with a hem Full length drinking straw
Setup Carefully flatten a drinking straw. Next sew the straw into the hem of a handkerchief. Make sure the straw can't move within the hem as show in Figure 1. If your handkerchief does not have a seam, sew one in two of the sides. How to Perform When you are ready to perform the trick, take the corner marked with an "A" in Figure 1 and tie a knot in that corner. Hold the handkerchief with your right hand from the corner with the knot and let it hang down. Tell your audience you are going to make the handkerchief stand up. With your left hand take the middle of the handkerchief where corner "B" is, as shown in Figure 2, and let go of the handkerchief with your right hand. By slowly squeezing the straw with your thumb (this is the part you will need to practice), you can cause the handkerchief to slowly rise as if it is standing up as shown in Figure 3. As you do this tell the audience that the handkerchief responds to your command. Say "Handkerchief-- Stand!" or other similar commands.
205
Herrmann's Book of Magic Black Art Fully Exposed A COMPLETE AND PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DRAWINGROOM AND STAGE MAGIC FOR PROFESSIONALS AND AMATEURS, INCLUDING A COMPLETE EXPOSURE OF THE BLACK ART.
by Prof. Herrmann
Alexander Herrmann
Notice: This book was originally published in 1903, an epoch when adults were considered responsible for their own actions and for the safety of their children, and presumed sufficiently intelligent and competent to weigh the risks of their activities and decide wisely which to undertake and which to avoid. Some of the tricks explained in this book involve techniques which, by present-day standards, would be considered hideously dangerous and in some cases cruel to animals. Descriptions of these tricks have been highlighted with a background like that of the following. This is a most effective trick, and easily performed. Be careful not to swallow the needles.
The electronic edition of this book is presented in its integrality as an historical document. The producer and publisher of this text assumes no responsibility whatsoever for any consequences of performing the activities described herein, whether highlighted as especially dangerous or not. You are entirely responsible for your own actions. If you do not agree with this,
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please stop reading now. And yes, I do wish I lived in a time and place where statements like this were unnecessary.
CONTENTS Ammunition, Conjurer's Anti-Spiritualistic Tricks Artful Conjurer, An Ball, Dissolving Fancy Sleight With Handkerchief and Tumbler Balls and Basins Annihilation of Color-Changing Diminishing Black Art Exposed Banquet, Conjurer's Bonbons, How to Produce from Handkerchief Balls, Manipulation of Multiplication of Bird, How to Shoot and Bring to Life Again Balls, Red and Black, Changing Tricks With Body, How to Set on Fire Bran and Dove Plates Burned Handkerchief Restored Candle Ends, Eatable Cut Arm Off Without Pain Candle, How to Light With a Glass of Water How to Light With Smoke and Handkerchief Coin and Candle and Lemons Changing Fold, a New Magical Production of Passed into a Matchbox Passed Through the Body Pocket Vanish for Swallowing Transferred from Tumbler to Ball of Wool Vanish for Duplicate Wandering
207 Wine Glass and Paper Cone Coins, Hat and Plate Tricks With Vanishing in Sheet of Flame Color-Changing Balls Communication, Mysterious Cards, How to Make Them Jump and Run on Table How to Convey into a Nut Cut, Restored Cone, How to Make Move on Table Dictionary Trick Dress, The Egg, How to Make Change Its Position Exploding Bubbles Eat Shavings, How to Finger, Palm Fire Eating Fire Flash Flash Paper Flight of Coin, Invisible Faded Rose Restored Freeze Water by Shaking Fowl, How to Kill and Bring to Life How to Make Seem Dead Flash of Lightning When Anyone Enters the Room Garter Trick Glass, How to Fill With Beer and Water Without Mixing Handkerchief and Candle Incombustible Ball Cabinet Fired into Gentleman's Hair Flying Mechanical Pull for Vanishing Passed into Spectator's Pocket Peregrinations of a Produced from Collar Spirit Tube for Producing and Vanishing Vanisher Color Changing of
208 How to Restore Magical Production of Tricks With Hat Tricks Eggs Produced from Incubator Loading Magnetized Tricks With Head of the Decapitated Speaking How to Cut Off from Man Iron Changed into Silver How to Melt Ink Changed to Water Liquids, Two Cold, Produce Fire Cold Become Hot Color Changing Long-Distance Second Sight Metamorphosis, Hideous Magic Breath Miscellaneous Tricks Mystery of the Floating Head Make a Watch Stop or Go At Will Name, Mysterious Needle, to Make Float Party, to Make Appear Ghastly Palming Pistol, Conjurer's Postal Trick, New Paper Cone, Watch, Rabbit and Boxes Programme and Coin Quarter vs. Dime Reverse Palm Rouge et Noir Ring, Climbing Stone, How to Keep in Motion Supernatural Appearance Stone, How to Break With Fist
209 Skeleton, Dancing, The Stick, How to Break When Placed on Two Glasses Servantes Slate Tricks Smoke from Empty Pipe and Tumbler Spirit Calculator Swallowing Needles Tambourine, Mysterious Table, The Thimble, Ubiquitous Tumbler, to Knock Through a Table Teaspoons, Magical Transformation Tourniquet Tube and Ball Hydrostatic Tumbler, Hydrostatic To Drive Through Another Vessel That Will Let Water Out at Bottom When the Mouth Is Uncorked Walnut Shells and Pea Wand, The Multiplying Wandering Coin Watch, Glass and Handkerchief Water, Cold Changed to Hot Mystery Retained in Cylinder and Inverted Tumbler Wizard's Breakfast Writing Name on Card Wandering Beer Water Turned to Wine
CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION There are one or two leading principles to be borne in mind by anyone taking up the study of magic. The first and foremost is, Never tell the audience what you are going to do before you do it. If you do, the chances of detection are increased tenfold, as the
210 spectators, knowing what to expect, will the more readily arrive at the true method of bringing about the result. It follows as a natural consequence that you must never perform the same trick twice in the same evening. It is very unpleasant to have to refuse an encore; and should you be called upon to repeat a trick study to vary it as much as possible, and to bring it to a different conclusion. There will generally be found more ways than one of working a particular trick. It is an axiom in conjuring that the best trick loses half its effect on repetition. Should a hitch occur in the carrying out of the programme by the accidental dropping of an article, or from any other cause, above all things do not get confused, but treat the matter as a good joke, and meet the difficulty with a smile, making use of some such expression as the following: “Well, you see I put it down there to show that it would go. It is perfectly solid and does not stick.” By this means, instead of spoiling the entertainment, you add greatly to the amusement of the spectators. Do not cultivate quick movements; at the same time it will never do to be painfully slow; but endeavor to present your tricks in an easy-going, quiet, graceful manner. It is generally understood that “the quickness of the hand deceives the eye,” but this is entirely erroneous. It is impossible for the hand to move quicker than the eye can follow, as can be proved by experiment. The deception really lies in the method of working the trick, and in the ability of the performer in misdirection, as will be seen from a perusal of the following pages. A little well-arranged patter as an introductory to an entertainment will be found to put you on good terms with your audience. A few words, something like the following, will suffice: “Ladies and Gentlemen, with your kind attention I shall endeavour to amuse you with a series of experiments in legerdemain. In doing so I wish it to be distinctly understood that I shall do my best to deceive you, and upon the extent to which I am able to do so will depend my success.” At the close of an entertainment a little speech, of which the following is an example, will be found to prove a good finish: “Ladies and gentlemen, in concluding my entertainment I have only to say that, apart from deceiving you, which was but a secondary consideration, if I have been able to afford you some slight fun and amusement I feel amply rewarded.” In concluding these remarks I must enforce upon the novice the necessity for constant practice, without which the clearest instruction would be useless. This applies, not only to conjuring, but equally well to any form of amusement, so the would-be magician may congratulate himself on the fact that the difficulties to surmount are not in excess of those of any form of entertainment. Before proceeding to describe the various tricks it will be well to notice one or two appliances of general utility.
211 The Dress.—The usual attire of the modern magician is the conventional evening dress, but I have known performers of the present day to adopt various fancy costumes. For instance, I have seen a conjurer attired as a Knight of the Garter; another one, calling himself L'homme masqué, wears Court dress with a black mask covering the upper part of his face. In these two cases, however, the swallow-tail coat, an important adjunct, is retained. Again, I have seen a conjurer attired as Mephistopheles, a very smart costume, and to a certain extent appropriate, but entailing too much trouble for the majority of performers. I have also been present at an entertainment where the magician, a very clever performer, was attired in evening dress, but wore a short dinner jacket. In these last two cases, the swallow-tail coat was, of course, dispensed with, a decided improvement, as it adds greatly to the bewilderment of the audience as to how the conjurer obtains and disposes of the various articles he uses. Where the ordinary dress coat is used, each tail is provided with a large pocket, known as a profonde, the mouth of which is on a level with the knuckles, and slopes slightly to the side. These pockets, which are usually 7 in. square, are lined with buckram, and sewn on rather full, to keep them constantly open. They are used to contain “loads” for hat tricks, etc., also to vanish articles, such as watches, eggs, or balls. In addition to these pockets, two others, known as pochettes, are used on the trousers. These are sewn on rather full at the back of the thigh, on a level with the knuckles, and covered by the tails of the coat; they are useful to contain rings, coins, or other small articles required in the course of the performance. There are also two pockets known as breast pockets, one in each side of the coat. These should be of a size large enough to contain a dinner plate, and should be made with the bottom sloping a little towards the back, to prevent articles placed in them from falling out. The opening should be in a perpendicular position 1 in. from the edge of the coat. These are loaded with rabbits, doves, etc., or any large or cumbersome article required for magical production. In the case of fancy costumes the pockets, if required, must be arranged as the attire permits. If you perform in a dinner jacket, the ordinary side pockets can be used for producing or vanishing the articles. The breast pockets, as already described, can be retained. The collar, which should be of the ordinary “stand-up” pattern and one size larger than that in every-day wear, will be found to provide an excellent means for the evanishment of articles such as coins, small balls, rings, handkerchiefs, and the like. When it is necessary to regain possession of a coin or ring vanished in this way, it will be well to have a small silk handkerchief arranged between the shirt collar and the side of the neck, otherwise the piece might be lost beyond recovery. (See “The Wandering Coin”.)
212 The Table.—There are a great many tricks which can be performed without the aid of a special table; in fact, tables of any description are very secondary articles in the stage settings of conjurers of the present day. Where they are employed they are usually of the small round tripod pattern, fancifully made for show, and are used only for the purpose of an ordinary table. Tables with traps and other mechanical appliances are almost, if not entirely, out of date, no performer with any pretentions of originality making use of them. A neat little table can be made from a piece of board 18 in. in diameter, covered with red baize, and hung with fancy fringe to taste; the legs taking the form of an ordinary music stand. The under-side of the table is fitted with a brass plate holding a pin, about 2 in. long, to fit the socket of the stand. This forms one of the most compact tables possible, and is greatly in vogue, as the stand can be folded up into a small compass, and placed, together with the top, in a black canvas case for traveling. Two of these tables will occupy very little more room than one, and they look well in pairs. They will generally be found to afford sufficient convenience for an evening's entertainment. The Servante.—This is a secret shelf behind the performer's table, on which are placed articles to be magically produced in various ways. It is also used to vanish articles as occasion may require. In the absence of a specially prepared table a servante can be readily devised by pulling out the drawer at the back of any ordinary table about 6 in., and throwing a cloth over the whole, the cloth being pushed well into the drawer so as to form a pad to deaden the sound of any article dropped into it. If a table with a drawer cannot be obtained, a servante, which will answer every purpose, can be arranged by throwing a cloth over a table and pinning it up behind in the form of a bag. In the case of the small round tripod tables, a small drawer, made from a cigar box, can be attached to the under side of them, and pulled out as required. The fringe decorating the edge of the table will conceal the presence of the drawer; but if the whole of the under side of the table, drawer included, be painted black, it cannot be detected at a few paces.
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Fig. 1. SERVANTE FOR USE ON A CHAIR There are various forms of portable servantes for fixing to the back of a table or chair. A description of one for use on a chair will be sufficient to give a clear idea of the construction of others, which can be arranged as required by the ingenuity of the performer. A piece of ½ in. board, 7 in. by 5 in., is covered with green baize, and slightly padded on one side with cotton wool, to prevent injury to any fragile article that may come in contact with it in the course of the performance. To this is screwed an iron frame (Fig. 1) of the same dimensions as the board. The frame, which carries a network as shown, is screwed to the board in such a way that it will fold up flush with the same, the whole being when closed under 1 in. in thickness. The frame carrying the network is prevented from opening too far by an iron bar screwed to the back of the woodwork, the sides of the frame being extended under this as shown. The board is fitted with two brass eyelets for attaching it to the top rail of an ordinary chair by means of two screw eyes or stout pins. To conceal the servante throw a fancy cloth over the back of the chair. The Wand.—This is a light rod about 15 in. long and ½ in. in diameter, usually of ebony, with ivory tips; a plain rod, however, will answer the purpose equally well. The use of the wand is regarded by the uninitiated as a mere affectation on the part of the performer, but such is far from being the case. Its uses are legion. in addition to the prestige derived from the traditional properties of the wand, which has been the mystic emblem of the magician's power from time immemorial, it is absolutely necessary for the successful carrying-out of many experiments, as will be seen in the course of the present work. For instance, having palmed a coin, say in the right hand, you lower that hand and take up the wand, which effectually conceals, in a perfectly natural manner, the presence of the coin. The wand is now passed once or twice over the left hand, which is supposed to contain the coin, and on opening the hand the coin will be found to have vanished. It
214 will thus be seen that the wand is of the utmost importance, and the tyro cannot do better than make it his first investment.
CHAPTER II PRINCIPLES OF SLEIGHT OF HAND APPLICABLE TO SMALL OBJECTS Palming.—The first thing the neophyte will have to do will be to learn palming, i.e., the art of holding small objects, such as coins, balls, nuts, corks, etc., concealed in the hand by a slight contraction of the palm.
Fig. 2. PALMING COIN. Practice first with a coin. A quarter is the most convenient size and is the coin generally preferred by conjurers, as its milled edge affords a ready grip to the palm. Lay the coin in the right hand as shown in Fig. 2. Then slightly contract the palm by pressing the ball of the thumb inwards, moving the coin about with the forefinger of the left hand until you find it is in a favorable position to be gripped by the fleshy portions of the hand. Continue to practice this until you can safely turn the hand over without any fear of letting the coin fall. When you can accomplish this with ease, lay the coin on the tips of the second and third finger, steadying it with the thumb as in Fig.~3. Then moving the thumb aside, to the right, bend the fingers, and pass the coin up along the side of the thumb into the palm, which should open to receive it, and where, if you have followed the previous instructions, you will find no difficulty in retaining it.
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Fig. 3. PALMING COIN. As soon as you can do this with the hand at rest, practice the same movement with the right hand in motion towards the left, as if you really intended to place the coin in that hand. To get this movement perfect, it is advisable to work in front of a mirror. Take the coin in the right hand and actually place it in the left several times; then study to execute the same movement exactly, with the exception that you retain the coin in the right hand by palming. When appearing to transfer a coin, or any small object, from the right hand into the left, the left hand should rise in a natural manner to receive it. The right hand, in which is the palmed coin, should fall to the side; and the left hand should be closed as if it actually contained the coin, and should be followed by the eyes of the performer. This will have the effect of drawing all eyes in that direction, and in the meantime the right hand can drop the coin into the profonde, or otherwise dispose of it as may be necessary for the purpose of the trick. Let it be distinctly understood once for all that when you desire to draw the attention of the audience in a certain direction you must look fixedly in that direction yourself. The student who desires to become a finished performer should palm the various objects, with equal facility, either in the right or in the left hand. When you can hold a coin properly, as described, practice with a small lemon, a watch, or any other objects of similar size. In this case, however, owing to the greater extent of surface, it will not be found necessary to press the object into the palm, but simply to close the fingers round it, in the act of apparently placing it in the left hand. Le Tourniquet.—This pass is generally known by this name, so I will not depart from its time-honored title. Hold the coin between the fingers and thumb of the left hand (as in Fig. 4), and then appear to take it in the right by passing the thumb under and the fingers over the coin.
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Fig. 4. Under cover of the right hand the coin is allowed to fall into the fingers of the left, where by a slight contraction it may be held between the first and second joints, or it may be allowed to fall into the palm proper. The right hand must be closed and raised as if it really contained the coin, and be followed by the eye of the performer; the left falling to the side, and if necessary dropping the coin into the profonde. This pass should be performed equally well from either hand. The Finger Palm.—Lay a coin on the fingers as shown in Fig. 5. Then in the act of apparently placing it in the left hand, raise the forefinger slightly, and clip the coin between it and the second finger. The left hand must now close as if it contained the coin, and be followed by the eyes of the performer, while the right hand disposes of the coin as may be necessary.
Fig. 5. THE FINGER PALM. I will give an illustration of the way in which this sleight can be employed with good effect. Place a candle on the table to your left, and then execute the pass as above described. The thumb of the right hand should now close on the edge of the coin nearest to itself and draw it back a little; and at the same time the candle should be taken from the candlestick between the thumb and fingers of the same hand. (See Fig. 6.) The left hand, which is supposed to contain the coin, should now be held over the candle and opened slowly, the effect to the spectators being that the coin is dissolved into the flame. Both
217 hands should at this point be shown back and front, as the coin, owing to its peculiar position, cannot be seen at a short distance. You now take the upper part of the candle in the left hand; then lower the right hand to the opposite end and produce the coin from thence, the effect being that the money is passed through the candle, from one end to the other.
Fig. 6. APPLICATION OF THE FINGER PALM. The Reverse Palm.—This is one of the most difficult passes, but is exceedingly useful, and will therefore be found to amply repay the student for any time he may spend in its acquisition. Commence by holding the coin between the first and second fingers and the thumb. (See Fig. 7.) To execute the pass, remove the forefinger, and bring it down over the face of the coin to the bottom; at the same time remove the thumb, and the coin will be found to be held by the first and second fingers at the back of the hand. Practice this first with the hand at rest, then bring the left hand down over the coin with a kind of swoop as if you intended to take it in that hand. In reality, however, while under cover of the left hand the pass is made as described. The left hand is now closed and raised as if it actually contained the coin, while the right hand is seen to be empty.
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Fig. 7. THE REVERSE PALM. To recover the coin, bend the tips of the fingers round towards the palm, place the thumb on the coin and remove the forefinger, when it will be found an easy matter to pull the coin into the hand with the thumb. This may sound rather intricate, but will be found quite clear if a coin be actually taken in the hand, and the movements executed while reading the instructions. To give an idea of the value of this pass I will explain two experiments performed by its aid. Make the pass according to the previous instructions, and the right hand will appear empty. The left hand now makes a movement as if throwing the coin through the left knee, the right hand being immediately lowered under the knee, and the coin produced thence. Again make the pass and extend both hands at arm's length away from the body, the left being closed as if it contained the coin, and the right held open palm towards the audience. Now draw attention to the left hand, saying you will pass the coin thence into the closed right hand; and while all eyes are looking at the left hand you reverse the position of the coin in the right hand, which you forthwith close. It will now be found an easy matter to pass the coin from one hand to the other. To Change a Coin.—Sometimes, in order to bring about a desired result, it is necessary to change, or in conjurers' parlance to “ring,” a borrowed and marked coin for a substitute of your own. There are many ways of effecting this, but having once mastered the various “palms” the student will readily invent means for himself. The following, however, is the one generally adopted by conjurers: Borrow a coin and have it marked. Then take it between the fingers and thumb of the left hand, as in “Le Tourniquet”, having previously secreted the substitute in the palm of the right. Now take the coin in the right hand, and in doing so drop the substitute into the palm of the left, which you immediately close, and remark, “You have all seen me take the coin visibly from the left hand. I will now make it return invisibly.” Saying this, you appear to throw the coin into the left hand, really palming it, and showing your own, which everyone takes to be the original borrowed one. You now proceed with the trick in question, disposing of the marked coin as may be necessary.
CHAPTER III
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TRICKS WITH COINS Magic Production of a Coin.—Come forward with a coin palmed in the right hand. Draw attention to the left hand, showing it back and front as empty, and, as if in illustration of what you say, give the palm a smart slap with the right hand, leaving the coin behind, and slightly contracting the fingers so as to retain it; now show the right hand empty, pulling up the sleeve with the left hand which masks the presence of the coin, then close the left, and after one or two passes over it with the right hand, produce the coin. The Wandering Coin.—Show a coin, holding it between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, and pulling up the left sleeve with the right hand. Change the coin over to the right hand, and pull up the right sleeve with the left hand. Do this two or three times. Finally, when appearing to take the coin from the left hand, push it back behind the fingers, and with the right hand appear to rub it into the left elbow; this brings the left hand close to the collar, into which you drop the coin. (See “The Dress.”) When performing this sleight myself, I make believe to pass the coin from the elbow up into the left hand, then, without showing it, appear to throw it into the air, and remark: “I dare say, Ladies and Gentlemen, you will have noticed that on all coins of the realm there is on one side a lady, and on the other side a gentleman” (this is not strictly correct, but it is near enough for the purpose). “You will now notice that the lady has eloped with the gentleman, and that they are on a honeymoon, round the room; but they are coming back, and are now within a yard of my fingers, and they are getting nearer and nearer.” I now extend the right hand, make a catch at an imaginary coin, and continue: “Yes, I have it here” (my hand is really empty), “but before showing it to you I propose to do something else with it; I will pass it invisibly along my sleeve and produce it from the collar.” Then, taking the piece from the collar, remark: “You see I had collared the coin securely.” A New Coin Fold.—Take a piece of paper 4 in. by 5 in., place a coin on it and fold the top of the paper down over the coin to within 1 in. of the bottom. Then fold the right hand side of the paper under the coin, treating the left hand side in a similar way. You must now fold the bottom 1 in. of the paper under the coin and you will, apparently, have wrapped it securely in the paper; but really it is in a kind of pocket, and will readily slip out into either hand at pleasure. Allow several persons in the audience to feel the coin through the paper, then take it from the left hand to the right, letting the coin slip out into the left hand, which picks up a plate from the table. You now burn the paper in the flame of a candle, and, dropping the ashes on the plate the coin is found to have disappeared. A pretty effect can be obtained if, instead of using a piece of ordinary paper for the above, you make use of a piece of “flash” paper, which when placed in the flame of a candle vanishes entirely, leaving no trace behind.
220 Coin and Candle.—Repeat the last trick, using “flash” paper for the same and dispensing with the plate. When about to burn the paper in the flame of the candle, stand with the left hand, which contains the coin, holding the right lappet of your coat. After the flash show the hand empty, then take hold of the right lappet of the coat with the right hand, and in doing so let the coin drop from the left hand into it. The left hand immediately takes hold of the left lapel, and both hands pull the coat open as if to show that the coin is not concealed there. It is now a simple matter, but very effective, to lower the right hand over the candle and produce the coin apparently from the flame. An Artful Conjurer.—Take a coin between the forefinger and thumb of the right hand and address your audience as follows: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I am indebted to a friend of mine for this trick. He was a very artful conjurer and always told me that he placed the coin in his left hand” (make a motion as if doing so, but really lower the coin behind the last three fingers of the right hand), “but he did nothing of the kind; he simply hid it behind those three fingers” (show coin). “Then with a sweep of the arms, when he thought I was not looking, he would quickly place the coin under his arm” (twist the hands round rapidly and then appear to place the coin under the left arm, but really palm it in the right hand), “all the time directing my attention to the left hand, and telling me the coin was there; but of course that hand is perfectly empty, inside and out” (to illustrate what you are saying you give the palm a smart slap with the right hand, leaving the coin behind), “the coin really being under the arm. So it is when he does the trick, but not when I do it, as you see the coin is in the left hand the whole of the time.” The above, as a sleight of hand feat, is, to my idea, perfect, and never fails, when neatly performed, to gain tremendous applause. Robbed of its patter, however, it would scarcely produce any effect. The Invisible Flight.—Hold the coin between the fingers and thumb of the left hand, looking at it yourself. From this position appear to take it in the right hand by passing the thumb under and the fingers over the coin. The coin is really allowed to drop into the fingers of the left hand, which contract slightly so as to retain it; the right hand is closed as if it really contained the coin and is followed by the eyes of the performer. The palm of the left hand can now be shown casually, when it will appear empty, the coin being held between the first and second joints of the fingers, which are slightly curled. The left hand is now closed and the piece is then slowly opened, disclosing the coin lying on the palm. The reader will have noticed that up to this point no duplicate coins have been used, nor has it been necessary to exchange one coin for another. This forms what may be termed legitimate sleight of hand, and is to be recommended; but sometimes for the sake of effect it is really necessary to use a duplicate coin, and I will now mention one or two instances. For the following tricks a duplicate coin is prepared with a very small hook attached to one side about ¼ in. from its edge. This coin is placed in the performer's right vest pocket, and is obtained by means of the following trick.
221 Vanish for Duplicate.—Holding the coin you have been using in your right hand, you appear to place it in the left; instead of doing so, however, you palm it. Close the left hand as if it contained the coin, and then say that you will pass it from that hand into your waistcoat pocket; show the hand empty and then with the same hand take the duplicate coin from the pocket. The other coin, you will remember, remains palmed in the right hand. To Pass a Coin Through the Body.—In continuation of the preceding trick you place the left hand (holding the hooked coin) behind the body and attach the coin to the back between the shoulders, remarking: “I shall next undertake a very difficult experiment, which consists in passing the coin right through my body, commencing from behind, up into my left hand” (as you say this you extend the hand closed). Someone is almost sure to remark that the coin may be in the hand already, to which you reply: “Pardon me, no, I would not deceive you by so mean an expedient. See, the left hand is perfectly empty. If you prefer it I will use the other hand, which is also quite empty.” You should have been holding the right hand, in which is the palmed coin, well extended and open, with the back towards the audience. The right will in nine cases out of ten be chosen, but should you be called upon to use the left you will have recourse to the method employed in the “Magical Production of Coin” at the head of this chapter, to get the coin into the left hand. Should the right hand be chosen, you may, with some caution, remark: “Well, it's just as well as to have the right one, but still I left it to you.” All that remains for you to do now is to make believe, in the most dramatic manner possible, that the coin is traveling up the body, along the arm, and into the chosen hand, whence you let it fall on to a table or chair. Should the coin fall on the ground, you will be careful not to expose the one on your back when picking it up. Swallowing Illusions.—Having secured the coin again, appear to place it in the mouth, palming it, and producing it from the bottom of the vest. Repeat this pass, and remark: “This time, by way of variation, we will stop the coin when it gets half way down and give it a sharp push” (strike your chest rather violently with both hands), “which will have the effect of sending it right through the body again.” You now turn round and show the coin sticking on your back. Coin and Lemons.—Still keeping the coin palmed from the last trick, remove the one from your back and hold it between the forefinger and thumb of the left hand, from which you take it as in the “Invisible Flight.” This time, however, you do actually take it with the right hand, and at the same time let fall from the right hand the coin concealed therein. The left hand now contains a coin, but will be thought to be empty. This movement is employed here to satisfy the spectators that you are working with one coin only, you having, without apparent design, shown both hands empty, with the exception of the piece you are using. You now lay the hooked coin down on the table and go behind the scenes for three lemons and a knife, which have been placed there in readiness on a plate. One of the lemons has a slit cut in it, into which you insert the coin you have carried off. Coming
222 forward with the lemons on the plate, you force the choice of the one with the coin in the following manner: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have here three lemons. I only require one for the purpose of my trick and I will ask you to decide which it shall be. Which of the three do you prefer, the right or the left, or the one behind?” (The one behind is the prepared one.) If the one behind is chosen take it and proceed. If the right or the left is chosen throw it to the person making the selection, with the remark, “Thank you, I hope you will find it sweet.” You will now have two left and you continue: “I have now only two lemons. Which one shall I take, the right or the left?” If the prepared one is chosen take it and proceed with the trick. If the other one is chosen take it with the remark: “Very good, then I will use the one that remains for the purpose of the trick.” You now force the knife into the lemon, inserting it in the slit already made, and give it to someone to hold high in the air. Now pick up the coin from the table and vanish it by one or other of the means already described (a good method is given in the next trick), and then have the fruit cut open and the coin disclosed. The above form of ambiguous questioning can be used in any trick where it is essential that a particular article be chosen. You can avoid going behind the scenes by adopting the following ruse: Go to the wing, and, extending your hand, in which is the coin, behind it, call out loudly to your assistant, “Bring me those lemons, please.” In drawing attention to the fruit it is perfectly natural for you to extend your hand behind the wing and thus dispose of the coin. The Pocket Vanish.—Take a coin in the right hand and make believe to place it in the left, really palming it. The left hand is closed as if it contained the coin and held away from the body. The right hand pulls back the sleeve slightly as if to show that the coin has not been vanished in that direction. This movement brings the right hand over the outside breast pocket of the coat, into which the coin is allowed to fall unperceived. The coin is now vanished from the left hand in the orthodox manner and both hands are shown empty. Should you desire to regain possession of the coin, have the outside pocket made communicating with an inside one on the same side of the coat; when, having shown the right hand unmistakably empty, you produce the coin thence, in a magical manner. The preceding list of coin tricks has been arranged in combination, the one to follow the other in a natural manner, for an entertainment, as actually presented to an audience. I cannot, however, leave the subject of coin tricks without making mention of several other very deceptive experiments, which will doubtless be new to the majority of my readers. Quarter vs. Dime.—For this trick you will require a quarter and a dime, also a champagne tumbler with a thick bottom. You prepare for the trick by palming a quarter in the left hand and showing a dime in I the right. Appear to place the dime in the left hand, really palming it, and picking up the tumbler with the same hand. Stand the bottom of the tumbler on the supposed dime in the left hand, which you have been careful not to let
223 anyone see, and then draw the attention of the bystanders to the appearance of the coin as seen through the bottom; owing to the thick glass it will appear the same size as the dime, which everyone believes it to be. Now place the whole on the table and undertake to change the coin while still under the tumbler. This is a simple matter, as you have only to raise the tumbler and expose the quarter. To Pass a Coin into an Ordinary Matchbox held by One of the Spectators.— Prepare a matchbox as follows: Push open the sliding portion about 1 in. Then fix between the top of the slide and the back end of the box a coin, the greater part of which is overhanging the box, the whole being out of sight of the casual observer. Arranged thus, give the box to someone to hold with instructions that when you count three the box is to be closed smartly. This will have the effect of jerking the coin into the box. You now take a duplicate coin and vanish it by means of the “Pocket Vanish,” or any other convenient method, counting “One! two! three!” when, acting according to your instructions, the person will close the box, and the coin will be heard to fall inside. Coin, Wine-glass, and Paper Cone.—This very pretty and amusing table trick consists in causing a coin placed under a wine-glass, the whole being covered with a paper cone, to disappear and return as often as desired. The following arrangements are necessary: Take a wine-glass, and, having placed a little gum all round its edge, turn it over on a sheet of white paper, and when dry cut away the paper close to the glass. Obtain a Japanese tray and on it lay a large sheet of paper similar to that covering the mouth of the glass, and stand the glass, mouth downwards, on it. Make a paper cone to fit over the glass and you are ready to present the illusion. Borrow a dime and lay it on the large sheet of paper by the side of the wine-glass; cover the glass with the paper cone, and place the whole over the coin. Command the dime to disappear, and on removing the cone it will seem to have done so, as the paper over the mouth of the glass, being the same color as that on the tray, effectually conceals the coin. To cause it to reappear you replace the cone and carry away the glass under it. This can be repeated as often as desired. To make the experiment more effective, use colored paper, which shows up against the coin more than white. Coins, Hat, and Plate.—In this experiment a number of borrowed and marked coins are passed invisibly into a hat covered with a plate. Obtain a small metal box large enough to contain half a dozen coins of the kind you intend to use. This box should be enameled white and have an opening in one side large enough for the coins to pass through. A common pill-box would answer the purpose, but a metal one is preferable. Place a little wax on the top of the box and leave it, with the plate, on a table at the rear of the stage. Borrow a silk hat, which leave on your table. Then obtain the loan of six marked coins, which you change for six of your own, as you
224 go back to the stage. Drop the latter coins into a tumbler, or lay them in some other conspicuous position on the table, and go to the rear of the stage for the plate. Introduce the marked coins into the box, and attach it by means of the wax to the under side of the plate. Come forward, and having shown the hat to be quite empty, place the plate over it, being careful to note the position of the hole in the side of the box. You now take the coins from the glass and appear to place them in the left hand, really palming them in the right, which forthwith drops them into a little box containing sawdust placed on the servante. The coins are retained in the right hand by a slight contraction of the fingers, as in “The Invisible Flight.” They should be held in the hand at the base of the thumb and jerked into position in the act of apparently passing them from one hand to the other. The pass called “Le Tourniquet” is a better one for a number of coins. The noise of the coins as they fall into the hand is quite natural, as it would be almost impossible to actually take them in silence. Now pick up the hat with the right hand, holding it at arm's length; vanish the money from the left hand in the usual way, at the same time tilting the hat slightly in the right direction, when the coins will be heard to fall inside. To Vanish a Marked Coin from a Tumbler and Cause it to appear in a Small Box, wrapped in Paper in the Center of a Large Ball of Wool.—For this very surprising trick you will require to make the following preparations: Procure a tumbler having a slit cut flush with, and parallel to, the bottom, which should be flat. The opening should be just large enough to allow a quarter dropped into the tumbler to slip through into your hand. (See Fig. 8.)
225
Fig. 8. PREPARED TUMBLER. Obtain a small metal box large enough to take the coin easily, also a flat tin tube about 3 in. long and just wide enough for the quarter to slide through it. Place one end of this tube inside the box and close the lid on it, keeping it in position by passing an elastic band over the box. You now wrap the box in paper and wind a quantity of wool round it until you get a large ball with the end of the tube projecting about 1 in. Place the ball thus prepared on a table at the rear of the stage and you are ready to perform. Show the tumbler, and draw attention to the fact that it is an ordinary one by filling it with water from a jug, which can be done by placing the forefinger round the slit. Return the water to the jug and borrow a quarter, which has been marked by the owner, allowing him to actually drop it into the glass. Cover the tumbler with a handkerchief, shaking it continually to prove that the coin is still there, and then place it down on your table, securing the coin through the slit as you do so. Going to the back of the stage for the ball of wool, you insert the coin into the tube and withdraw the latter, when the action of the elastic band closes the box. Bring the ball forward in a large glass basin and have the wool unwound, disclosing the box; on this being opened the marked coin will be found within.
226 To Vanish a Number of Coins from a Plate in a Sheet of Flames.—Place a teaplate near the rear edge of your table, and a sheet of “flash” paper, large enough to cover the plate, in front of it. You must also have another plate on the servante and you are then ready to commence. After performing any trick in which a number of coins have been used, throw them on the plate, carelessly dropping several on the table. Take up the plate in one hand and the piece of paper in the other, and holding the plate just behind the table, and over that on the servante, apparently sweep the loose coins on to the plate you are holding, really letting all fall on the hidden one, under cover of the paper, which you immediately place over the plate in your hand. Everyone will now suppose the money to be on the plate which, with studied carelessness, you bring forward just over the flame of a candle burning on the table. The paper ignites and disappears in a sheet of flame, and the plate is found empty. Programme and Coin.—The effect of this experiment, which is an improvement on the old “programme and ring” trick, as no stage assistant is required, is as follows: The performer borrows a marked quarter from a stranger in the audience, immediately handing it to a gentleman to examine the mark, date, and other items. While this is being done the performer obtains the loan of a programme, which he tears in half, laying one half on his table. The gentleman is now requested to place the quarter in the half of the programme held by the performer, who wraps it up and gives it to him to hold. He now goes to his table for a piece of sealing wax, which he passes several times over, the packet held by the gentleman, when immediately it is found transformed into a packet of three envelopes, made from the programme, all gummed and sealed one inside the other, with marked quarter in the smallest one. As the gentleman cannot see how it is done the performer repeats the trick for his benefit with the other half of the programme, but the result is the same. This time, however, the gentleman is requested to take the last envelope to the owner of the coin, that he may open it and satisfy himself that it actually contains his own quarter. The six envelopes are now rolled up and given to the gentleman to hand to the lady, to keep as a souvenir of the entertainment, but before he has proceeded far the performer tells him he has dropped one of them (he has not really done so), and, failing to find it, he very naturally begins to count those in his hand, when he discovers to his astonishment that he holds the programme restored. Explanation.—After the performer has borrowed the quarter in the act of handing it to the gentleman for examination, he adroitly changes it for one of his own bearing the mark of the cross, which mark is of course taken for that of the owner of the coin. The performer now asks for the loan of a programme, and while one is being procured he drops the actual borrowed coin into the smallest of the three envelopes which are placed one inside the other in the right profonde. To facilitate the introduction of the coin a tin tube, with a rather wide mouth, just large enough for the coin to pass through, is placed in the smallest
227 envelope. After the coin has been introduced this tube is withdrawn, left in the pocket, and the envelopes closed.
Fig. 9. PACKET OF THREE ENVELOPES. The flaps of the envelopes are sealed with wax beforehand and prepared with best gum arabic, which is allowed to dry hard. They are moistened with the tongue just as you are about to commence the trick, and if cut as in Fig. 9, can be closed all together while in the pocket. This packet is laid on the table under cover of the half of the programme used in the second stage of the trick. To commence the trick the performer palms a similar packet of envelopes containing another quarter marked in exactly the same way as the one he handed to the gentleman, and, it is hardly necessary to remark, being of the same appearance, and bearing the same date. When rolling up the programme the performer retains it and hands the gentleman the packet of envelopes; and when going to his table for the wax leaves the half of the programme and the quarter thereon. By the time the first quarter is taken from the envelopes the packet containing the actual borrowed coin will be dry and ready for use.
228 The remaining portion of the trick will now be understood. When the performer goes for the other half of the programme he takes the packet of envelopes with it and substitutes it as before, and the trick proceeds as described. When collecting the six envelopes for the final effect the performer palms a duplicate programme which has been lying on his table behind some object, and substitutes this as before when handing the gentleman the envelopes to take to the lady. Providing you cannot obtain a programme in time to make up the envelopes for the entertainment, the trick can be performed with the cover of say Tit Bits. Purchase three copies of the same date, one for the envelopes, one for the subsequent restoration, and the other to “plant” with a stranger in the audience, who, however, need know nothing of the trick other than that he is to hand you the cover of the paper when requested.
CHAPTER IV TRICKS WITH HANDKERCHIEFS Peregrinations of a Handkerchief.—For the following series of experiments you will require three 15 in. silk handkerchiefs (the best material for making these is fine quality sarcenet), an ordinary small sliding match-box, a candle in a candlestick, and a conjuring wand; also a false finger and conjuring pistol, hereafter described. You prepare for the series of tricks by rolling up one of the handkerchiefs very small and pushing it into the back of the match-box, which you open about 1 in. for the purpose; another is rolled up and placed behind the collar on the left hand side of the neck; and the last is loaded into the false finger and placed in the right hand trousers pocket. You are now ready to commence. Handkerchief and Candle.—“Ladies and Gentlemen, the following experiment was suggested to me at the age of twelve while studying chemistry. I then learned that all matter was indestructible. Proof of this, as you are well aware, is afforded with an ordinary candle. You may light the candle at one end and let it burn to the other, but you do not destroy the matter of which it is composed. What really takes place is the formation of new substances, as hydrogen, carbon, water, etc., which any of the text books on chemistry will explain. I will, however, give you one striking illustration:” Pick up the match-box and light the candle; then close the box, pushing the handkerchief into the right hand, and throw it down on the table. Take the candle from the candlestick and place it in the right hand, which masks the presence of the handkerchief. You now appear to take something from the flame of the candle with the left hand, which you close as if it really contained an article. Open the hand slowly, looking surprised to find you have failed, and remark: “Well—really I cannot understand this. I am generally successful with this trick. Oh! I know what is the matter. You see, I am using the left hand; if you do things left-handed they cannot possibly be right. I will try the right hand.” Saying this, you place the candle in the left hand and immediately produce the
229 handkerchief from the flame with the right, closing the hand as before. It now only remains for you to open the hand and develop the silk slowly. To Vanish a Handkerchief and Produce it from your Collar.—Place your wand under your left arm. Take the handkerchief and roll it up small, using both hands. Affect to place the handkerchief in the left hand, really palming it in the right, and take your wand from under the arm in the same hand. Vanish the handkerchief from the left hand, and take the one from your collar, immediately placing it in the right hand to mask the presence of the one already there, and lay the wand down on the table. To Pass a Handkerchief into the Pocket of a Spectator.—Obtain the assistance of a young gentleman from the audience, and ask him to let you have the loan of the outside breast pocket of his coat. Much fun is generally used by his removing his own pocket handkerchief and sundry other curious articles. Place both handkerchiefs, which have all the time remained in the right hand, in his pocket (you, of course, are supposed to be using one only), and stand as far away as the limits of the stage will allow, and say:—“Now, sir, do you think it possible for me to remove the handkerchief from your pocket without coming a step nearer to you than I am at present?” He will probably look confused, and hardly know whether to say Yes or No. Whatever he may say is all the same to you, and you remark:—“My dear sir, do not look like that; your face is calculated to upset me altogether. I scarcely know what I am doing. What I really intended to do was to pass the handkerchief from my hands into your pocket.” You now take the handkerchief from his pocket, where, unknown to the spectators and probably the gentleman himself, one still remains. You will now vanish the handkerchief as in the last trick, and let the gentleman take the one from his pocket, which will seem to be the same. Take the handkerchief from him, place it in the right hand, which again conceals the one in the palm, and lay the wand down on the table. To Fire a Handkerchief into a Gentleman's Hair.—For the purpose of this trick you will have to make use of what is known as a conjuring pistol, which, being in constant use in magical surprises, I will describe. It consists of an ordinary pistol fitted with a conical tin tube 8 in. long. The mouth of this tube is about 2 in. in diameter and is supplied with a tin cup 1 in. deep, having its outer edge turned over all round so as to afford a ready grip to the palm. The conical tube is fitted with an inner tube to keep it firm on the barrel of the pistol. (See Fig. 10.)
Fig. 10. CONJURING PISTOL.
230 Taking up the pistol, you place the two handkerchiefs, which look like one. in the cup; push them well down and remark:—“I shall now fire direct at the gentleman's head, and after the shot the handkerchief will be found firmly embedded in his hair, and will, not unlikely, be seen protruding from each of his ears. It just depends on the force of the shot, you know, and I need hardly say I loaded the pistol myself, and am totally ignorant of fire-arms. Are you ready, sir? then Good-bye!” Place the “muzzle” of the pistol in the left hand while you shake hands with the gentleman. In taking the pistol back into the right hand to fire it, you leave the cup behind in the left hand, and at the instant you pull the trigger, you drop it into your pocket on the left side. When discharging the pistol you will, of course, stand with your right side to the audience. You now ask the gentleman to take the handkerchief from his hair, telling him it is just behind his left ear (of course it is not really there); and while he is trying to find it you stand with your hands in your trousers pockets, telling him to make haste, you cannot wait all the evening, etc. When he has tried some time and failed to find it you take your hands from your pockets, having got the false finger into position between the second and third fingers. Showing the hands back and front (the addition of an extra finger will not be noticed), you pass them several times over the head of the gentleman, then lowering the hands on to his head you detach the finger and draw out the handkerchief. The false finger is laid down on the table under cover of the handkerchief.
Fig. 11. FALSE FINGER. The finger is made of thin spun brass painted flesh color; it is quite hollow from tip to root, and is shaped for fitting between the second and third fingers (see Fig. 11). It can be used in many tricks with handkerchiefs, and is really an indispensable accessory. This concludes the series alluded to in the beginning of this chapter. I will now describe a number of handkerchief tricks complete in themselves. The Handkerchief Cabinet.—This very useful piece of apparatus should be in the repertoire of every amateur magician, as it is available for producing, changing, or vanishing a handkerchief. Its secret lies in the fact that it contains two drawers, bottom to bottom, the lower one being hidden by a sliding panel. When standing on the table the top drawer only is visible, and the cabinet looks the picture of innocence, but if turned over and stood on its opposite end the sliding panel falls, exposing the hidden drawer, and hiding that which for the time being is at the bottom (see Fig. 12). The cabinet is about 2 in. square by 4 in. high.
231
Fig. 12. HANDKERCHIEF CABINET. If required for production you proceed as follows:—Having placed a silk handkerchief in the concealed drawer, introduce the cabinet, take out the empty drawer, and give it for examination. Replace the drawer, secretly turn over the cabinet, and place it on your table. You now go through any form of incantation you please, open the drawer and take out the handkerchief. If you desire to vanish a handkerchief you will have it placed in the drawer by one of the spectators, and while going to the table turn over the box. When the drawer is opened the handkerchief will have disappeared. Should you wish to change one handkerchief for another you will beforehand conceal say a red handkerchief in the cabinet; then taking a white one, have it deposited in the upper drawer, turn over the cabinet as before, pull out the now uppermost drawer, and produce the red handkerchief.
232 From the foregoing description it will be obvious that the cabinet is capable of being used in conjunction with many tricks. The Handkerchief Vanisher.—One of the best appliances for causing the disappearance of a handkerchief may be made from a small celluloid ball as follows:— Obtain a ball 1¾ in. in diameter, which will take three small silk handkerchiefs if desired, and cut a 1 in. hole in any part of its surface. On the side of the ball opposite the opening fix a loop of flesh-colored thread, long enough to pass easily over the thumb, and to suspend the ball on the back of the hand so that it does not hang too low. When required for use the ball is taken up secretly under cover of the handkerchief, and the thumb of the left hand is passed through the loop. Then, while appearing to roll up the handkerchief, it is worked through the opening into the ball, which is instantly pushed over to the back of the left hand under cover of the right. The palms of the hands are now shown empty, when the handkerchief will seem to have vanished entirely. When using the vanisher you will, of course, stand with your right side to the audience. It is well to be provided with two or three of these accessories, in different sizes. Magic Production of Handkerchiefs.—The performer comes on the stage showing both hands empty, back and front. He then pulls up both sleeves and immediately produces a white silk handkerchief, about 18 in. square, which he passes for examination. Then by simply shaking the handkerchief he obtains from it about half a dozen other colored ones about 15 in. square. The colored handkerchiefs are then caused to vanish by simply rolling them up in the hands, being immediately afterwards reproduced, all tied together by the corners, from the white one. The necessary preparations for the trick are as follows:—A slit ½ in. long is made in the seam of the trousers at the right knee, and two of the colored handkerchiefs, each having a minute piece of blackened cork tied to one corner, are pushed into this slit, the corks being left protruding to enable the performer to instantly draw them out. Two handkerchiefs of different colors are placed in the pochette on the left side. A fifth handkerchief, also prepared with a piece of cork, is placed in the front of the vest, the cork protruding through the watch-chain hole. It may seem impossible, but the silk may be drawn through this hole very rapidly, and quite easily, as will be found by experiment. A sixth handkerchief is contained in the false finger (previously described), which should be placed in the right hand trousers pocket. As the handkerchiefs are produced they are thrown over the back of a chair fitted with a network servante (Fig. 1), behind the top rail of which are suspended two vanishers of the kind already described; also the ball of six duplicate handkerchiefs all tied together by the corners. The trick is worked as follows:—The white handkerchief is rolled up into a small compass and tied with a piece of silk just strong enough to hold it. It is then placed in the hollow of the arm at the elbow, the arm being slightly bent so as to retain it in that
233 position. When pulling back the sleeves the performer secretly obtains possession of the handkerchief, breaks the thread, and develops it slowly. Having had the handkerchief examined, and while holding it by two corners, spread it over the knee as if drawing attention to the fact that it is empty. Then, in the act of raising it, shaking it the whole of the time, pull the two colored ones through the seams, and while developing these, take the two from the pochette on the left side. Place the white handkerchief in the left hand to conceal the colored ones, and throw the other two over the back of the chair. Now produce the two in the left hand in a similar manner, and throw them over the chair with the two already there. Then take the white handkerchief by two corners, and, while turning it round, show both sides, seize the piece of cork at the buttonhole of the vest, and produce the fifth handkerchief, throwing both over the back of the chair. For the production of the last handkerchief a little patter is desirable. “Ladies and gentlemen, I dare say you will wonder where I get these handkerchiefs from. The other day I overheard two gentlemen conversing in the stalls. One said to the other, ‘Don't you see where he gets those handkerchiefs from? They come down his sleeve.’ The other said, ‘Oh! no, they don't. He takes them from his pockets, for I saw him.’” Saying this, you thrust the hands into the pockets by way of illustration, and fix the finger in position. Then withdraw the hands, placing the palms together, and continue: “Now, I wish to prove to you that both of these gentlemen are wrong. If the handkerchief comes down the sleeve, you will be sure to see it. My hands are perfectly empty” (show hands). “Now watch closely and see if you can detect me.” You now bring the hands together, reverse the finger, and shake out the handkerchief; and, when laying it with the others on the chair, drop the finger into the servante. To cause the disappearance of the handkerchiefs, proceed as follows: Take up three of the colored ones, at the same time secretly obtaining one of the vanishers, and, with an upand-down motion of the hands, work them into the ball. Then pass the ball to the back of the hand and show the palms empty. When taking up the other three handkerchiefs, drop the vanisher into the servante, secure the other one, and proceed as before. Then take up the white handkerchief again, disposing of the vanisher into the servante, and securing the ball of six tied together. Finally wave the white handkerchief up and down, and gradually work out the colored ones, one after another. Color-changing Handkerchiefs.—The effect of this trick, which is one of the best in the whole category of sleight-of-hand feats, is as follows: Three white handkerchiefs are pushed into a paper tube, and as they come out at the opposite ends they are seen to be dyed respectively red, yellow, and green. The paper is then unrolled and torn in half, when the white handkerchiefs are found to have vanished entirely. To perform the trick you must be provided with a piece of drawing paper 10 in. by 8 in. (a leaf from a plain drawing-book will answer the purpose admirably), three very fine
234 white silk handkerchiefs 15 in. square, and three colored ones of the same size and texture. The last of the colored handkerchiefs to appear at the end of the tube is prepared as follows:—Take a piece of 1¼ in. brass tubing, 3 in. long, and insert it in the middle of one side of the handkerchief (Fig. 13), by covering it with a piece of silk of the same color. This piece of silk is extended beyond the tube, as shown, to form a kind of pocket.
Fig. 13. HANDKERCHIEF FITTED WITH BRASS TUBE. To prepare for the trick push the body of the handkerchief into the brass tube at the end A, and the other two colored ones on the top of it. The piece of paper is laid on the table with the tube of handkerchiefs under its rear edge. The three white handkerchiefs are then laid across the paper. To perform the trick stand on the left of your table and take up the paper with the right hand, the left hand keeping the white handkerchiefs in front of the tube of colored ones. Draw attention to the fact that the paper is unprepared, then lay it on the table in such a manner that it again conceals the tube, and take up the white handkerchiefs. Show the handkerchiefs, remarking that they are of the ordinary description, and then lay them on the table. Pick up the paper, and with it the colored handkerchiefs, which are held behind it with the thumb of the right hand.
235 You now form the paper into a tube round the colored handkerchiefs and hold it in the left hand. Pick up the white handkerchiefs one at a time, place them in the left hand with the tube, and remark:—“I will now pass the white handkerchiefs through the cylinder, first, however, showing you that it is perfectly empty.” As you say this you take the handkerchiefs in the right hand, and as if to illustrate what you say, place them near the mouth of the tube. This gives you the opportunity of dropping the colored handkerchiefs into the white ones. The cylinder is now shown empty, and the white handkerchiefs are pushed into one end of it; care being taken to introduce the colored ones first, and to keep them out of sight of the audience. You now grasp the brass tube tightly through the paper and press the white handkerchiefs into it. This, of course, pushes out the colored handkerchiefs, which appear at the other end of the cylinder, the white ones being concealed in the body of the last colored one. When performing the trick it, is necessary to be careful to insert the right end of the brass tube into the paper cylinder, otherwise the experiment would not be successful. The following is the method of presenting the above trick, with appropriate “patter”: “For the purpose of my next experiment I shall make use of this square-looking piece of paper, in which you can see there is nothing concealed, not even a trap door. Well, if there was anything concealed from your view, you would be sure to see it.” Laying the paper down and taking up the handkerchiefs, you continue. “In addition to the paper, I propose to make use of these three pieces of silk, or silk in pieces, commonly known as art white squares. I am afraid, however, some people would prefer to call them subdued white; possibly dirty white, if it were not for the liberty of the thing, but I know they call them art white in State Street, because I suppose they find that they sell better.” Laying the handkerchiefs down, you take up the paper with the tube behind it, and, prior to forming the cylinder, remark:—“This experiment was suggested to me while traveling on the N. Y. C. & H. R. railway. I always travel by that line when possible, being very fond of scenery. The other day I had occasion to take a return single from New York City to Schenectady; and while passing through those tunnels I noticed that my linen changed color considerably, which suggested to me this illustration. With the piece of paper I will form a kind of tube or tunnel to represent for the time being one of those cavities on the N. Y. Central railway.” Make the tube and continue—“There it is, as free from deception as I am. I will now take the handkerchiefs” (take up the handkerchiefs from the table) “and pass them through the cylinder” (drop the colored handkerchiefs into the white ones and show the tube empty), “first, however, showing you that it is perfectly empty. Then, having satisfied you that there are no trains on the line, I will pass the handkerchiefs through the tunnel.” As the colored handkerchiefs appear at the opposite end of the tube, remark:—“I may say that I have been getting my living for some considerable time by conjuring. You will now notice that I am beginning to dye by it.”
236 Mechanical “Pull” for Vanishing a Handkerchief.—The construction of this contrivance is very simple, and it is absolutely instantaneous in its action, the quickest eye being unable, even at close quarters, to detect the flight of the handkerchief. It consists of two straps, one for each arm, which are buckled on just above the elbows. One of the straps carries what is known to mechanics as a“lazy” pulley, working freely in all directions, and provided with a shield, so that the cord cannot possibly leave the wheel; and the other carries a metal “D” loop. A cord is tied to the “D” loop, passed over the back, round the pulley on the left arm, back again and down the right sleeve; the end of the cord being furnished with a loop to receive a handkerchief. The apparatus must be attached to the arms underneath the shirt, and when in such a position that the arms may be moved about freely, the loop should be in the center of the back, as shown in Fig. 14.
Fig. 14. MECHANICAL “PULL” FOR VANISHING A HANDKERCHIEF.—(a) Leather Strap; (b) Brass Plate; (c) Pivot; (d) Brass Hinge; (e) Pulley in Shield; (L) Left Arm; (R) Right Arm. To enable the artiste to obtain possession of this loop, a black thread is passed through it, doubled and carried down the right sleeve, the two ends hanging out of the cuff so as to be readily found by the fingers. Having found the thread, the performer pulls down until the loop appears, which is forthwith passed around the thumb, the thread being broken and allowed to fall on the floor. The act of pulling the cord to secure the loop will pull the elbows close to the sides, where they must be kept until the handkerchief is to disappear. Having placed the handkerchief through the loop, which should be of catgut, as being semi-transparent, push it into the glass tube as described in the next trick, and place the hands one over each end. To cause the handkerchief to disappear all that is necessary is to move the elbows away from the sides while making a quick up and down motion with the glass cylinder, slightly lifting the base of the right hand from the edge of the glass to allow the silk to pass up the sleeve. In moving the elbows away from the sides a pull of from 3ft. to 4ft. is put on the cord, the handkerchief flying up the sleeves and finally occupying a position in the center of the performer's back.
237 The Flying Handkerchief.—This is a very surprising trick, and a favorite with the most noted prestidigitateurs. It depends chiefly for its effect on the “Mechanical Pull” (Fig. 14). For its execution you must be provided with six small silk handkerchiefs (two red, two yellow, and two green), also two glass cylinders of the kind used for gas. The idea of the trick is to cause a red silk handkerchief placed in the center of one of the glass tubes, the ends being covered with the hands, to disappear, and be found between a yellow and a green handkerchief previously tied together, rolled up into the shape of a ball, and placed in the other cylinder. It is accomplished thus:— Three of the handkerchiefs, one of each color, are tied together by the corners, the red being in the center. They are then rolled up into the shape of a ball so that the red one cannot be seen, and, thus prepared, are laid on the table behind the other red handkerchief. The performer now takes the two remaining handkerchiefs, one yellow and one green, and ties them together, rolling them up to look as near like the duplicate ball as possible. Holding this ball in the right hand, he takes up the red handkerchief, and with it the ball of three. He then takes the red handkerchief in the right hand, passing the ball into the left, and forthwith pushing it into the glass cylinder on the table. Under cover of the red handkerchief, however, the balls are exchanged and that of three is actually placed in the tube. While going for the other cylinder, which should be on a table at the rear of the stage, the performer has ample time to dispose of the ball of two, and to get down the “pull.” When introducing the cylinder remark:—“You see, Ladies and Gentlemen, that the tubes are of the most ordinary description and perfectly free from preparation; in fact, you can see right through them. I hope you will not be able to see through me quite so easily.” The red handkerchief is then inserted in the cylinder, being previously passed through the loop, whence it is caused to vanish as described. The handkerchiefs are then taken from the tube on the table, unrolled and shaken out; when, by some unaccountable means, the red one will appear to have tied itself between the other two. Brass Tube to Produce, Vanish, or Change a Handkerchief.—This is really an indispensable piece of apparatus and should be in the repertoire of every wizard. It consists of a piece of 1½in. brass tubing, 4 in. long, with two caps of the same metal to close the ends. A handkerchief is inserted in the tube and the caps are immediately placed on; but notwithstanding this, the handkerchief disappears, or can be changed to another of a different color. The apparatus really consists of four pieces, the tube and the two caps, with the addition of a cup, 1 in. deep, made to fit easily into either end of the tube, and provided with a flange as in the magic pistol already described, to enable the performer to palm it off (see Fig. 15). The cup is not provided with a bottom, but is fitted with a piece of ¾ in. tape fixed at each side, in the center of the tube, in such a manner that a loop hangs down flush with, and forming a bottom common to, either end of the cup (as at A).
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Fig. 15. BRASS TUBE FOR HANDKERCHIEF TRICKS. I will explain the method employed in changing say a white handkerchief for a red one after which the other uses of the tube will be apparent. Load a red handkerchief into the cup at the end A, and place it under your vest, or in the right-hand trousers pocket. Give the tube and caps for examination, and while they are out of your hands, get possession of the cup and palm it in your right hand. Take back the tube with the left hand, pass it into the right, and over the cup; and fit the cap to the opposite end. Turn over the tube, and with the right hand apparently place the white handkerchief into it (the handkerchief really goes into the cup and pushes the red one into the tube, reversing the tape). Now place the right hand over the cup, reverse the tube, and remark:— “As the cap has been on this end the whole of the time, it has not been possible for the handkerchief to escape in that direction. We will now place a cap on the opposite end of the tube and we have the handkerchief secure.” Saying this, you reverse the tube, palming off the cup as you do so; and, while holding the tube in the same hand, to hide the palm, fit on the cap. Give the tube to someone to hold and drop the cup into the profonde, or otherwise dispose of it at the earliest opportunity. On removing the caps the handkerchief will be found to have changed color. At this point a good combination trick can be worked by the use of two duplicate handkerchiefs, as follows: Have a duplicate red handkerchief hanging over a chair, on the back of which is suspended a network servante. Another duplicate white handkerchief should be in readiness in the back of a match-box for producing from the flame of a candle, as previously described. When handing the gentleman the tube which is supposed to contain the white handkerchief, you take up the red one from the back of the chair, and at the same time dispose of the palmed cup by dropping it into the servante. The red handkerchief is now vanished by sleight of hand, or can be fired from the magic pistol, and eventually found in the brass tube. To account for the disappearance of the white handkerchief you may remark: “Oh, I dare say the white handkerchief has jumped out of the tube to make room for the red one. It has probably found its way into the candle on the table.” To conclude the trick you light the candle and produce the handkerchief from the flame. The tube can be used in many ways in combination with other tricks, but I must leave these to the ingenuity of the performer.
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CHAPTER V TRICKS WITH BALLS Creation, Manipulation, Multiplication, and Annihilation of Billiard Balls.— For the series of tricks hereafter described, you will require two solid billiard balls and a case to contain one of the balls, consisting of two hemispheres of thin spun brass hinged together. When closed this case will represent a solid ball, but when open and held in the hand with thumb over the hinge, will appear as two balls. The balls, together with the case, should be enameled red. When about to present the trick, come forward with the case containing a solid ball in the left breast pocket and the other solid ball under the left armpit. Creation.—Pull up the right sleeve and then the left one, which gives you the opportunity of taking the ball in the right hand unperceived. You now execute what is known as the “Change-over Palm” to show both hands empty, and then produce the ball from the back of the right hand. This palm is made as follows: Having got the ball into the right hand, draw attention to the left with the fingers of the right, showing it back and front. When doing this you will be standing with your right side towards the audience. Now make a sharp half-turn to the right and show the right hand in the same manner. This you will be able to do, as when making the turn the palms of the hands very naturally passed over each other, and the ball was transferred from the palm of the right hand to that of the left. The ball is now found on the back of the right hand. Manipulation.—The amount of manipulation possible with a single ball is considerable, and limited only by the dexterity of the performer. The principles of sleight of hand as described in Chapter II will, with few exceptions, be found equally adaptable to this branch of the mystic art. For the benefit, however, of those of my readers who have not hitherto made sleight of hand a study, I append a few examples. 1. Having obtained the ball from the back of the right hand, place it between the forefingers (as in Fig. 16). Then twist the fingers round and round, which will cause the ball to revolve with them. This produces a very pleasing and puzzling effect, and is to all appearances a feat of dexterity. It requires, however, a little practice.
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Fig. 16. REVOLVING BALL. 2. Close the right hand and place the ball on the top (as in Fig. 17). From this position appear to take it in the left hand, really allowing it to sink down into the palm of the right, where it is retained. Vanish the ball from the left hand in the usual manner and produce it from the left elbow.
Fig. 17. BALL IN POSITION ON RIGHT HAND. 3. Roll the ball between the palms of the hands as if you were trying to make it smaller. When the left hand is underneath, seem to close it over the ball, really palming it in the right hand. The left hand is now brought down right smartly on the back of the hand and the ball produced from the mouth. 4. Place the ball between the teeth and apparently give it a smart rap with the right hand as if to force it into the mouth. The ball, however, is palmed in the right hand, and immediately taken from the back of the head. When producing this ball, pass it up the back and over the top of the head and let it fall into the left hand. 5. Appear to take the ball from the left hand, as in “Le Tourniquet”. Then apparently pass it through the left knee, producing it from underneath.
241 6. Throw the ball several times from one hand to the other, and finally, when appearing to throw it into the right hand, palm it in the left. Vanish the ball; place the left hand to the nose, and let the ball fall into the right hand. To all appearance it actually comes from the nose. 7. Stand with the left side to the audience and throw the ball into the air several times. At the third time palm it in the left hand, the effect being that the ball is vanished into thin air. Now perform the “Change-over Palm” described above, and find the ball at the back of the right knee. 8. Apparently transfer the ball from the right hand to the left, really palming it. Place the palm of the right hand (containing the ball) on the right breast, and thence extend it over in the direction of the left sleeve. In the act of doing this, the ball leaves the palm and is held between the forearm and the body; the hand, turned palm towards the audience, then pulls up the sleeve. You then blow on the left hand to vanish the ball and show the hand empty. To regain possession of the ball, all that is necessary is to reverse the motion of the arm, when the ball will find its way into the palm of the hand, and can be produced as fancy suggests. If the ball is not produced, the above forms an excellent final vanish to any billiard-ball trick. If used as a vanish, after having gained possession of the ball you stand with the hands one on each lapel of the coat, bow, and retire. This pass, which I have found practical in every way, was given to me by Mr. George Newman, a very clever amateur conjurer. The following explanations will to some extent be given in the “vernacular,” it being assumed that the student has become familiar with the various passes. Multiplication.—You must now obtain possession of the trick ball, which can be done by means of the following ruse: Appear to place the ball in the left hand, vanish, and take it from the left breast pocket. In doing so you take out the trick ball, leaving the solid one behind. For two balls: Take the trick ball in the left hand, and, waving the hand up and down, open the shell, placing the thumb over the joint, when you will appear to have two balls in the left hand. To show these as two solid balls, one in each hand, take the ball out of the case, which forthwith close. This can easily be done under cover of the right hand. Draw attention to the ball in the left hand and remark, “One, and this one” (ball in right hand) “make two.” As you say this you appear to place the ball in the left hand, really opening the case to represent two balls, and palming the solid one in the right hand.
242 For three balls: Produce the ball you have palmed from behind the left knee, and really place it with the two others (case open) in the left hand. Wave the left hand up and down and under cover of the movement allow the solid ball to slip into the case. Then produce the ball previously left in the breast pocket, and you will seem to have passed a ball up your sleeve. For four balls: Draw attention to the two balls now in the left hand (case open, with a solid ball in one half) and remark, “Two, and this one” (ball in right hand) “make three.” Saying which, you apparently place the ball in the left hand, really palming it as before, and dropping the ball out of the case under the cover of the right hand. You now find the palmed ball at the left elbow and really place it with the other three in the left hand. You will now appear to hold four solid balls. Annihilation.—Appear to take a ball in the right hand, really allowing one to fall into the case. Vanish this ball in the act of throwing it to the audience. You now actually take another solid ball in the right hand and exclaim, “I will vanish this one into thin air. Watch me.” Actually throw the ball into the air several times, and while doing this lower the left hand and drop the solid ball out of the case into the profonde, making a movement that the audience cannot fail to notice. Thinking they have caught you, someone is sure to remark, “I saw him put one in his pocket that time.” To which you will reply, “Oh! no; I did not put any in my pocket. I would not deceive you in such a manner. Two and one” (the one in the right hand) “make three.” You now really place the ball in the left hand. Again appear to take a ball in the right hand, letting it fall into the case as before. Then vanish it in the act of apparently throwing it into the air. Wave the left hand up and down, and under cover of the movement close the case, which will dispose of the third ball. Finally, make believe to take this last ball in the right hand, standing with your right side to the spectators. Instead of doing this, however, the case is opened under cover of the right hand and the solid ball extracted. The right hand is then closed over the ball so that it cannot be seen and the left hand quietly places the case in the profonde. It is well to again let this movement be suspected. Then, looking to the right hand, remark, “I have now only to dispose of this last ball.” At this point someone is almost sure to say, “Oh! I saw you put it in your pocket.” You will then cause considerable amusement to the spectators, and derision on the party with the voice, by showing the ball in the right hand. To cause the disappearance of the last ball, make use of the pass described under Example 8 above. Billiard Balls and Basins.—For the purpose of this trick you will require two small basins and two tea plates. The plates are to act as covers for the basins. In addition to this paraphernalia you will require two India rubber balls to match in size and color the ordinary billiard balls.
243 The effect of the illusion is as follows: The two basins are shown empty and each is covered with a plate. In the course of the preceding billiard-ball trick, or a portion of the same, two balls are vanished, afterwards appearing in the basins. To prepare for the trick, place one of the basins, containing one of the balls, on the table, and cover it with one of the plates. On the top of this plate place the other basin, containing the second ball, covering the same with the remaining plate. When about to present the illusion, you take the top plate in the left hand and the basin in the right, fingers inside and thumb out. This enables you to grasp the ball and conceal it in the fingers, while holding the basin so that the inside can be inspected. Place the basin on the floor, retaining the ball in the fingers, and immediately place the plate in the right hand, which again conceals the ball. Show the hand empty, also both sides of the plate. Then pass the plate back into the left hand, taking the ball with it, and show both sides of the right hand. Cover the basin with the plate and in doing so secretly introduce the ball. You must now go through the same movements with the other plate, ball, and basin, and the trick is practically finished. All that remains for you to do now is to vanish two balls and find them in the basins. The India rubber balls are essential for silence when dropped into the basin. Ordinary wooden balls would “talk” and thus betray their presence. Color-changing Billiard Balls.—There is a very old trick similar to what I am about to describe, known as the “Chameleon Balls.” In this form of the trick the ball is caused to change by palming on, or off, as occasion may require, half-shells of different colors. I will now explain a method of producing a result analogous to the old trick, but brought about entirely by different means. The necessary accessories are a red, a black, and a white billiard ball, all solid. Place the white ball in the profonde and the black one in the pochette on the left side. Having arrived at the point in “Annihilation” where all the balls have been disposed of with the exception of the last solid one, you throw this in the air as if to vanish it in that direction. While all eyes follow the ball in its upward flight, you lower the left hand and take the white ball from the profonde, palming it. In doing so you would, of course, stand with the right side to the audience. The Change to White.—Make a half turn to the right and take the red ball in the fingers of the left hand, in which you have the white ball palmed. Then show the right hand, back and front. Now take the visible red ball in the fingers of the left hand and at the same instant make the “Change-over Palm.” This brings your right side again to the auditorium and enables you to show the left hand empty. To execute the change you place the red ball in the fingers of the left hand and then stroke it with the palm of the right, palming the red ball and leaving in place of it the
244 white one. Again make the “Change-over Palm,” showing the hands empty, with the exception of the white ball. The Change to Black.—You take the ball in the right hand, and, turning to the left, bring it down rather smartly on the table, to prove its solidity. This gives you the opportunity of dropping the red ball into the profonde and taking the black one from the pochette. To change the white ball to black, you will proceed as in the previous change, disposing of the palmed white ball at the earliest opportunity, or it can be produced with good effect from the bottom of the trousers. Then lay both balls down on the table. To appreciate and thoroughly understand the effect of the above, it is necessary to actually practice the various movements with the balls in front of the mirror. The Diminishing Billiard Balls.—The trick under notice has for its effect the apparent diminution of an ordinary billiard ball, first to half its original size, secondly, to one-quarter its original size, and, finally, to a very small ball, with which several amusing passes are made, and which afterwards disappears entirely. In this case a trick ball is used of a size about equal to half that of the ordinary one, and hollowed out so as to contain a solid ball of a diameter equal to half that of itself. (See Fig. 18.) The hollow ball must be so constructed that the small one pinches slightly into it, but can be instantly released by simply passing the ball or the thumb over it. A duplicate of this small ball should be placed in the right-hand waistcoat pocket for use in the latter part of the trick.
Fig. 18. TRICK BALLS.
245 The trick ball is placed in the left pochette, whence it is obtained and used according to the instructions given in the “Color-changing Balls.” To produce the smallest size, hold the trick ball in the left hand, having previously loosened the small one, and, in the act of stroking it with the right hand, palm off the hollow ball and dispose of it as soon as possible. With the small ball you now execute the pass as described under Example 4 above. Then actually place the nail in the mouth, pretend to swallow it, and produce the one from the vest pocket, which will appear to be the same. You now seem to place the ball in the left hand, really palming it; then bring the left hand down with apparent force on the top of the head, showing the ball between the teeth. Here raise the right hand as if to take the ball from the mouth, but really push it back and show the palmed one. Then repeat the same pass, but this time actually let the ball fall from the mouth into the left hand, disposing of the palmed ball into the profonde. I have seen a series of passes, including the above, performed with two eggs. in place of the small balls, but unless the performer be endowed with a colossal cavity between the upper and lower jaws, I should not advise him to attempt this. The Handkerchief Ball.—This forms a very good introduction to a billiard-ball trick, all that is required being a ball of the usual size, hollowed out so as to take a handkerchief, with an opening 1 in. in diameter on the surface. This ball is suspended behind the top rail of a chair by means of a pin. After performing any trick in which a handkerchief has been employed, carelessly throw it over the back of the chair while you roll up your sleeves. If you do not care to roll up the sleeves, perform any small trick before proceeding with the present one, otherwise it might be too palpable that the handkerchief was thrown over the chair for a purpose. Then take up the handkerchief (secretly securing the ball) and gradually work it into the ball, being careful to keep the ball out of sight as much as possible until the handkerchief has totally disappeared. Finally throw the ball into the air, which can safely be done, providing it and the handkerchief are both of the same color, which would not admit of the hole being observed. At this point, should you desire to proceed with a billiard-ball trick, you can do so by changing the hollow ball for a solid one in the same manner that you changed the solid ball for the trick one in the “Multiplying Billiard Balls.” The Dissolving Billiard Ball.—This forms an excellent conclusion to the billiard-ball trick. A glass tumbler three parts filled with water is given to a gentleman to hold. A ball is then covered with a handkerchief and given to the gentleman, with a request that he will hold it over the glass and at the word “three” will allow it to fall into the water. This is done, and, upon the handkerchief being removed from the tumbler, nothing remains but the fluid, which is perfectly transparent, the ball having apparently been dissolved therein.
246 The secret of this lies in the fact that the performer is provided with a half shell of clear glass. This shell is secretly slipped over the ball in the act of covering it with the handkerchief, and when handing it to the gentleman the solid ball is palmed away by the performer. The gentleman is not at all likely to discover that he holds only a half ball, as, being hampered with the glass of water, he is effectually prevented from making an examination. It is well to be provided with a tumbler the bottom of which is shaped somewhat to fit the form of the shell and ornamented slightly, but this latter feature is not absolutely necessary. Fancy Sleight with a Small Ball.—A small ball is generally used for this “pass,” but it is applicable to any object that can be conveniently placed in the mouth. In effect it is as follows: A ball, for instance, is rubbed into the left elbow and passed thence up into the hand. The hand is then brought down rather smartly on the back of the head, the ball being immediately afterwards taken from the mouth. The sleight is thus executed: The performer takes the ball in his right hand and commences to rub it into his left elbow. At this point he apparently meets with an accident, dropping the ball on the floor. The dropping of the ball, however, apart from being an accident, is absolutely essential to the success of the illusion. After having picked up the ball, and while still in a stooping position, with his back towards the spectators, the performer quickly throws it into his mouth, immediately facing round and drawing attention to the right hand, the fingers of which must seem to close round the object. The rubbing at the elbow is again commenced and the right hand eventually shown empty. The performer then makes a sign indicative that the ball has passed up into the left hand, which is then brought down with apparent force on the back of the head. The ball in the mouth is then revealed, when it will appear to have actually traveled to that position. This sleight can very well be introduced at the close of the “Diminishing Billiard Balls.” I am indebted to Mr. Ross Conyears, an exceedingly dexterous magician, for the above. Rouge et Noir.—This pretty trick consists of causing two balls, one red and one black, wrapped in pieces of paper and placed in borrowed hats, to change places at command. The diameter of the balls should be 4½ in. The solution of the problem lies in the construction of the papers with which the balls are covered. They are arranged thus: Take two pieces of newspaper and paste them together all round the edges, having previously inserted between them a layer of red glazed paper of the same shade as the ball. The other one is prepared in exactly the same way, but contains a layer of black glazed paper to represent the black ball. The two balls are now wrapped in the papers, care being taken to cover the red ball with the paper containing the black layer, and vice versa. After this has been done, the
247 performer feigns a slip, mixing up the packages, and thereby confusing the audience as to the relative positions of the balls. As if to satisfy them on this point, he tears a small hole in the outer covering of one of the parcels, exposing, say, the layer of black paper. The parcel is then placed in the hat on the supposition that it contains the black ball. The other package is now treated in the same manner, after which the supposed transposition of the balls will be easily understood. Ball, Handkerchief, and Tumbler.—This is a very good combination trick, and as such will serve as an example for the arrangement of others. A billiard ball is placed in a small tumbler, which is in turn wrapped in a piece of newspaper and deposited in a borrowed hat. The performer then takes a small silk handkerchief and rolls it up in his hands, when it is seen to have become transformed into a billiard ball. The glass is then taken from the hat, and, on the paper being removed, is found to contain the handkerchief. The ball, handkerchief, and tumbler, together with the piece of paper, are then caused to vanish, one at a time, from the hands of the performer, who immediately afterwards produces them from the hat. The modus operandi is as follows: A duplicate tumbler containing a handkerchief, and wrapped in paper, must be secretly introduced into the hat prior to the commencement of the trick (see “Hat Tricks”). The tumbler containing the ball and wrapped in paper is then placed in the hat. The performer now takes up a duplicate handkerchief, and, under cover of the same, the hollow ball already described. The handkerchief is worked into the ball, which is shown in due course, and laid on the table, opening downwards. The duplicate tumbler is then removed from the hat, and found to contain the handkerchief. These articles including the piece of paper, are then laid on the table by the side of the ball. The performer now goes to the hat, and, under pretence of moving it further away, turns it over, thus proving, in conjurer's logic, that it is empty. This can easily be done by taking the hat fingers inside and thumb out, the fingers being inserted in the top of the tumbler. The performer then returns to the table and proceeds to dispose of the articles thereon. The piece of paper rolled up, and the ball, are caused to vanish by any of the means already explained. To cause the disappearance of the glass you must be provided with a handkerchief, silk for preference, consisting of two handkerchiefs sewn together round the edges, in the center of which is fixed a disc of cardboard of the same size as the top of the tumbler. The tumbler being covered with this handkerchief the performer, as if to satisfy the spectators that it is still there, strikes it several times on the back of a chair, and under cover of the movement allows the glass to fall into the network servante. The handkerchief, however, owing to the presence of the disc, still appears to contain the glass, the ultimate disposal of which will now be readily understood. In conclusion, the performer takes the handkerchief lying on the table and vanishes it by palming in the ordinary way; the right hand being immediately dived into the hat and the
248 handkerchief produced. The other articles should be removed one at a time, not forgetting to crumple the paper into a ball before taking it out.
CHAPTER VI HAT TRICKS The uses to which that piece of headgear, the much abused silk hat, lends itself in “l'art magique” are almost innumerable. The chief, however, and the one immediately under consideration, is the production therefrom of a host of heterogeneous articles, of which the following list will give an idea: Fifty yards of sash ribbon, eight inches wide.—The ribbon should be folded over and over, in large pleats, so that it can be readily taken from the hat. Two dozen fancy cardboard boxes, 3 in. by 2 in. by 2 in.—These are made to fold flat, the size of the parcel when ready for introduction being 5 in. by 3 in. by 1 in. Two hundred flowers, known as spring flowers.—Each flower when closed is very little thicker than brown paper, but immediately on being released expands to the size of a fullblown tulip. One hundred of these flowers, when closed, can easily be hidden in the hand. A string of sausages.—These, it is hardly necessary to remark, are imitation, being made in silk of the required color. A bundle of wood.—This is made hollow, consisting of a cardboard case with pieces of wood glued on the outside and on one end, the other being left open. It is usually filled with baby linen, together with a feeding-bottle containing milk. One hundred yards of narrow, colored ribbon.—This is made in coils, machine rolled, similar to that used for telegraph purposes. A coil of this ribbon can very well be placed in the bottom of the sham bundle of wood. When producing the coil it should be unrolled from the center. Four-pound weight of playing cards.—These make a tremendous show when strewn about the stage. A good plan, also, is to have a number joined together in a long string by means of cotton. A cannon ball.—This is usually made in zinc, 5 in. in diameter, hollow, and provided with a sliding lid. It can be filled with various soft goods, such as handkerchiefs, ribbons, etc., also sweets and bonbons for distribution. A solid wooden cannon ball.—This should have a ¾ in. hole, 2 in. deep, bored in it towards the center, for facility in introducing it into the hat.
249 A barber's pole about thirty feet long and 4 in. to 5 in. thick at the base.—This is made with stout colored paper, and pulls out from the center. If the pole be constructed of red, white and blue paper the performer, when introducing the trick, may announce that he is about to erect the American Colors at the North Pole. A bowl of gold fish.—This really consists of two bowls, one within the other. The space between the two contains the water and fish, which are inserted through a hole in the bottom of the outer bowl, the latter being afterwards corked. The inside bowl is filled with bonbons, etc. (See Fig. 19.) The fish used are imitation, being made from pieces of carrot cut to shape.
Fig. 19. BOWL OF GOLD FISH. A large cage containing a live canary.—The cage, which is telescopic in action, the upper part sliding down into the lower, is nearly twice the height of the hat, and when once taken out cannot be put back. This is owing to the fact that the seed boxes, which in their normal position are on the inside, revolve on spring pivots as the cage is withdrawn, thus making it impossible to return it to the hat until they are replaced. Twenty pint tumblers, ruby and green.—These are made in celluloid and fit one in the other. They are all of the same size, but being very thin occupy very little more space than a single one. Six champagne bottles.—These are not quite so substantial as they look, being merely half-bottles in thin metal, japanned black, and decorated with labels taken from the genuine article. A bottle with a horizontal division in the center, the upper part containing wine, and the lower part a tumbler, is generally introduced with the shells. A small rabbit.
250 A Chinese doll.—Obtain a doll's head, 5 in. in diameter, from any Oriental store, and drape it with a silk skirt. If a hole be cut in the top of the head it can be utilized in the same manner as the cannon ball. A skull which rises spontaneously from the hat.—This is a model in papier-mache, and being hollow, is very serviceable. It is caused to rise from the hat by means of a black thread, which is carried through a staple in the flies immediately over the performer's table, thence through another staple behind the wings, and down to the assistant. It is not my intention to give directions for making those goods, as they can be bought at a very small cost from any of the dealers in magical apparatus. I have found by experience that this is the best course to pursue. Amateur work is, as a rule, very commendable, but scarcely so as regards conjuring, clumsy and ill-made apparatus being absolutely useless, and consequently dear at any price. Apart from this I have another, and what I believe to be a more important object in view, viz., that of giving instruction in the actual working of the trick. It will be at once obvious to the reader that the chief element in the magical production of articles from a borrowed hat, is the manner in which they are secretly introduced, as, should this be detected, the trick would fail ignominiously. The main secret lies in the combination of the looks and gestures of the performer to misdirect the audience. The articles for the most part are introduced under cover of natural movements, quickness being of little or no avail. I will now describe one or two methods employed to effect this desideratum. Loading.—Under this heading I shall endeavor to give the working of a hat trick as actually presented to an audience, using for the purpose articles selected from the preceding list. The following preparations must be made: A small rabbit is placed in the right hand profonde, and a billiard ball and a small dinner plate are laid on the table. A packet of one hundred spring flowers, secured by a band of tissue paper, must be in the hands of the assistant at the right wing; and another similar packet must be placed in the profonde on the left side.
251
Fig. 20. DOUBLE WIRE LOOP.
florists's wire The sash ribbon, folded as instructed, is tied round the fancy boxes together with the string of sausages, with black tape. The parcel is suspended behind the back of a chair by means of a pin and a double loop of florist's wire (see Fig. 20), the tape being passed through the small loop, which is then hung on the pin. This leaves the large loop, the use of which will be noted in due course, sticking up over the back of the chair, where, however, it is quite invisible at a few paces. The twenty pint tumblers are wrapped up in a piece of colored sash-ribbon and tied round with tape to which is attached a loop of wire. Thus prepared they are placed in the capacious breast pocket on the left side, the loop projecting so that the thumb or the right hand can be passed through it and the package withdrawn. The bundle of wood, containing the coil of ribbon, baby linen, and feeding bottle, must be in readiness on the servante at the back of a second chair. The skull, cannon ball, or globe of gold fish, whichever the performer intends to use, is located on the servante at the back of the table. The next thing to do is to obtain the loan of a hat, and having done so, it is well to perform a preliminary experiment with the same. A very good one is that known as
252 The Magnetized Hat.—The performer places his hand, perfectly empty, on the crown of the hat, which forthwith adheres to the palm, and in this position it can be moved about and turned over in any direction. The finger tips are then used in place of the palm with the same result. Finally, a silk handkerchief is thrown over the hat, and the palm of the hand placed thereon, but the effect is still the same. This seeming impossibility is accomplished with the aid of the little piece of apparatus illustrated in Fig. 21. It consists of a brass plate fitted with two bent pins as shown, the whole being painted black. The pins should be situated so that by placing the two middle fingers between them the hat can be raised. The working of the trick will now be readily understood. The clip must be pressed into the crown of the hat while returning with it to the stage, the pin on the left of the figure being inserted first. The clip is removed, with the handkerchief, in the final stage of the trick.
Fig. 21. APPARATUS FOR MAGETIZED HAT. The ball and plate are now given for examination, and while all attention is riveted on these two articles, ample opportunity will be found to introduce the rabbit unobserved, which should be done while amongst the audience. The hat is then covered with the plate, in which condition it is carried back to the stage, and placed on the table. The performer now takes the ball, and vanishes it by palming; appearing to pass it through the plate into the hat. The plate is then removed, and the ball taken from the hat with the right hand, followed immediately by the rabbit. The hat is now taken in the left hand, and the rabbit handed to the assistant at the wings with the right. The assistant takes the rabbit, and at the same time, under cover of the wing, gives the performer the packet of flowers; the hat being immediately placed in the right hand to conceal their presence. While drawing attention to the outside of the hat, the tissue paper is broken with the fingers, and the flowers are released. They are then shaken out slowly on to a large sheet of black alpaca, which should be spread over the stage to receive them. While this is being done, the package is obtained from the profonde, the hat being changed over into the left hand, and the second load thus introduced. When the flowers have all been shaken from the hat, take it in the right hand, fingers inside and thumb out, and approach the chair (this should be on your right) on which is the bundle of ribbons, etc. Take the top of the chair in the hand holding the hat, and in
253 doing so, push the forefinger through the loop of wire. Now move the chair away a few paces, and when removing the hand from the back bring away the load, which will fall into the hat unobserved. Leave the hat on the chair, and take up the alpaca containing the flowers, putting it on one side. Up to this point, no one will suspect that the hat contains anything, as what you have done has been but natural in the preparation of the stage for the next trick. The boxes are now taken from the hat and placed on the table, followed by the sausages. When removing the latter, some amusement may be caused by referring to them as “an indefinable, condimental amalgamation of membranaceous disintegrations.” The ribbon is next pulled from the hat in long lengths with the right hand, and when the hand contains a large quantity, the thumb is slipped through the wire loop attached to the tumblers in the breast pocket. These are introduced when inserting the hand to take out the next length of ribbon. The introduction of the tumblers cannot be detected, owing to the presence of the ribbon in which they are wrapped. When the whole of the ribbon has been extracted, it is thrown over the back of the chair, behind which is the bundle of wood. The tumblers are now taken from the hat, and placed on the table. The performer then takes up the ribbon from the chair and makes an effort to return it to the hat, thereby drawing attention to its great bulk, and remarking, “Now, how do you suppose I am going to get home with this? Why, I shall require at least two cabs.” It is needless to say that under cover of the ribbon the bundle of wood is introduced into the hat. The baby linen, feeding bottle, and coil, are now produced, and finally the wood itself. It is usual when taking the ribbon from the hat to spin it out on the wand. Holding the hat by the brim, fingers inside and thumb out, the performer lowers it for an instant to the rear edge of the table, and by inserting the middle finger of the hand into the hole in the cannon ball scoops it up into the hat, which is forthwith raised and placed crown downwards on the table. This movement should be executed with the left hand while the right lays the bundle of wood down on the table, and, if necessary, makes room for the next production. The fish bowl, or skull, would of course be worked in a similar manner. From the foregoing it will be seen that with a little expenditure of ingenuity and trouble a hat trick can be carried on to an almost indefinite period. It should not, however, in any case exceed fifteen minutes. I have taken the preceding list simply as an illustration of the way in which the various movements are combined to appear natural and thus avoid detection, also as a basis on which the student may arrange a hat trick of his own. Any articles can, of course, be substituted for those given, or the list may be supplemented by
254 others, or cut down as occasion may require. An amount of sang froid and boldness, only acquired from years of actual practice, is necessary to execute a good hat trick faultlessly; but this should not disconcert the reader, as it is only in accordance with what must be expected in the acquisition of an art. To Produce a number of Eggs from a Hat held Crown upwards.—For this purpose you must be provided with a black linen bag, oval in shape, and large enough to contain the required number of eggs. To one end of this bag is sewn an ordinary tie clip, the other end being cut off and provided with a piece of elastic so that eggs placed therein cannot come out unless pressure be applied with the hand. The bag is loaded into the hat by one or other of the methods described, and attached to the lining of the same by means of the clip. Under these circumstances the production of the eggs from the inverted hat will be an easy matter. The eggs used should be blown ones. The bag should be allowed to remain in the hat after the last egg has been taken from it, and removed later under cover of some other article. The Hat Incubator.—This experiment will be a welcome addition to any programme, as it introduces an entirely new method of loading a silk hat. In effect it is as follows: Having obtained the loan of a hat, the performer proceeds to collect a number of eggs by sleight of hand, using the hat as an egg basket. The hat, containing say half a dozen eggs, is then warmed over the flame of a candle, and immediately afterwards six live chickens are taken from it, the eggs having totally disappeared. Here is the solution of the mystery. As the performer steps back to the stage with the hat he is met by his assistant, who comes on from the wings carrying a Japanese tray on which is a lighted candle. He brings with him the chickens, which are enclosed in a black alpaca bag hanging on his back between the shoulders. The mouth of the bag is gathered up and retained with an ordinary tie clip to which is soldered a bent pin in the form of a hook for attaching the whole to the cloth. The performer, holding the hat in the left hand, opening towards the audience, approaches his assistant, and when in the act of apparently instructing him to hold the tray at the proper height, lowers the hat for an instant behind his back and scoops the bag containing the chickens into it. This movement is so subtle that not one in a thousand will detect it. The performer now obtains an egg from the pochette on the right side, and, lowering his hand over the candle, appears to produce it from the flame. He now seems to place this egg in the hat, really palming it and producing it over again. This is continued until the hat is supposed to contain the required number, the last one being dropped unmistakably into it. The clip is then removed from the mouth of the bag, and attached to another portion of it to prevent the possibility of dropping it on the floor; and the chickens are taken out one by one and placed on the tray. This gives a very plausible pretext for the use of the
255 assistant, and no one will suspect that he plays any but a very secondary part in the working of the trick. The chickens never “talk” after they have once been placed in the bag; on the contrary, they appear perfectly happy huddled together in the darkness, and evidently enjoy the warmth generated by their own bodies. A good finish to the trick may be obtained by placing a folding bouquet, consisting of a number of the spring flowers tied together, in the bag with the chickens. Under cover of the bouquet, which should be produced last, the bag and one egg are secretly removed from the hat, which is then returned to the owner.
CHAPTER VII ANTI-SPIRITUALISTIC TRICKS The Climbing Ring.—The performer having obtained the loan of a lady's ring, passes it over the end of his wand, which he then holds in a perpendicular position. The ring now commences to climb up the wand very slowly, stopping or descending at command; finally it jumps right off the wand and is caught by the performer, who immediately hands it back to the lady. This pretty experiment depends entirely upon a black silk thread, about twice the length of the wand, to which it is fixed at the uppermost end. The means by which the thread is attached may vary, but a good plan is to make a very small knot in the end of the thread, which is then passed through a very fine slit cut in the end of the wand, the knot making all secure. The thread is then passed down the side of the wand, in which position it will not be noticed. The ring is now dropped over the wand, and consequently over the thread, by the manipulation of which it may be caused to rise or fall, or, in response to a sharp tug, to jump right off the wand. The wand is usually held in the left hand, while the right, in which is the end of the thread, holds the lapel of the coat, when all that is necessary to obtain the desired result is to move the left hand to or from the body as required. The Mysterious Name.—This is a capital trick, and one that can be introduced at any time. The performer borrows a visiting card from any stranger in the company, and, holding it between the thumb and the second finger of the hand, he waves it about very slowly, at the same time asking someone to call out the name of any celebrity. This having been done the card is almost immediately handed back to the owner, who finds the selected name written thereon. This ingenious trick is accomplished with the aid of a small accessory in the shape of a thimble, to the end of which is attached a small piece of pencil about a quarter of an inch in length. This thimble having been placed on the forefinger of the hand, it will be found, by experiment, that the name may very easily be written on the back of a card held as instructed.
256 Prior to, and immediately after the trick, the thimble may be palmed as instructed elsewhere. The Spirit Calculator.—A piece of paper and a pencil are handed to the audience with a request that four different persons will each write down a row of four figures, one under the other, to form an addition sum. The paper is then given to a fifth person to add up the figures, but before he can call out the result the performer writes it down on a blackboard. The secret lies in the fact that the performer is in possession of a piece of paper exactly the same in every detail as that handed to the audience, on which, previous to the entertainment, he has had written in different handwritings four rows of figures. In the course of the entertainment all is fair and above-board until it comes to adding up the sum, when the performer, in the act of giving the paper to the fifth person, changes it for that of his own, with the total of which he is already acquainted. He has now only to run to the stage and write down the answer on the blackboard. A more startling conclusion than the prosaic one above mentioned may be obtained by the use of sympathetic ink, composed of sulphuric acid and water, one part of the former to three of the latter. Writing done with this ink will be invisible until heat be applied, which will bring out the characters in jet black. The performer, then, being provided with a piece of paper bearing the answer written with the invisible ink, gives a plate to the person adding up the sum and asks him to set light to the paper, first, however, taking careful note of the total. The prepared piece of paper is now held over the flames on the plate, when the heat will bring out the answer, which is proved to be correct. The total may be produced with very good effect in any of the Slate Tricks hereafter described. A New Postal Trick.—This is very useful, as it can be employed in conjunction with any trick where a word, message, total of sum, etc., is to be produced in a magical manner. An ordinary postal card is handed to a spectator with a request that he will tear a small piece from one corner, and having done so, hand both portions back to the performer. The corner is laid on the table and the card torn up into small pieces which are then placed in the magic pistol, and fired at a borrowed hat. The card is afterwards produced from the hat covered with writing, and fully restored with the exception of the corner, which on being fitted to the card is found to correspond in every way. The trick is accomplished with the aid of a second card prepared with the necessary writing, and from which a corner has been removed. This card is secretly introduced into the hat when returning with it to the stage. The performer, having palmed the portion missing from the card in the hat, makes an exchange when laying the corner on the table. The plain card is then torn into fragments, and together with its corner is placed in the pistol, which is then fired at the hat. It is well to place a piece of paper in the mouth of the
257 cone to receive the torn pieces of card, as by this means the danger of dropping any on the floor is obviated. An additional effect may be obtained by having previously placed in the body of the pistol a piece of paper containing a powder for producing colored fire, when, after having disposed of the cup containing the torn card, you appear to overhear a remark to the effect that you have put something in your pocket, to which you reply, “No, I certainly did not put anything in my pocket. See, here is the paper containing the card” (really the package of colored fire), after which the card is removed from the hat. The above trick may very well be used in conjunction with “The Spirit Calculator.” New Slate Tricks.—Under this heading will be noticed several methods, all of recent invention, for performing the well-known slate trick. First Method.—Two ordinary school slates are given into the hands of a spectator, who, after making a careful examination, ties them together with stout cord, in which condition they are placed in the cabinet. Writing is immediately heard, and when it ceases the slates are at once handed out to the performer, who on separating them finds the required message. The secret lies in the fact that the medium is provided with two small wooden wedges; also an umbrella rib, to which at one end is fitted a minute piece of pencil. All he has to do, therefore, is to force the wedges between the slates on one side until sufficient space is provided for the insertion of the rib, when the writing of the message will be found an easy matter. Second Method.—In this case the two slates, after examination, may be actually screwed together with iron bolts, but in spite of this precaution writing is obtained as before. Under these circumstances the performer is provided with a piece of prepared chalk—not the conventional commodity as sold in every drug store, but prepared by coating a piece of steel, about the size of a pea, with chalk paste, which is then allowed to dry. The piece of chalk is placed between the two slates, which are then bolted together and put into the cabinet; when, under the influence of a powerful horseshoe magnet passed over the outside of one slate as required, the prepared chalk will produce the spirit writing. Third Method (one slate only).—After examination the slate is held by the performer above his head, when almost immediately writing is heard; and on the slate being turned round it is found to contain the desired message. The slate, a small one for preference, is provided with a loose vulcanite flap covering one side, and concealing the writing which is already there. The performer hands the slate round for examination (keeping the flap in position by means of the fingers), and asks a spectator to initial it in one corner to satisfy himself that it is not exchanged. This having been done, and while returning to the stage, the performer removes the flap under cover
258 of his body and places it in the vest, or in the large pocket in the breast of the coat. He then holds the slate above his head, fingers in front and thumbs behind. The sound of writing is produced by scratching with one thumb on the back of the slate, and when this has been continued long enough the message is revealed. Fourth Method (one slate only).—In this instance the slate, which is an ordinary one, is shown to be clean on both sides, in which condition it is given to a spectator to hold. The performer then takes a pistol and, at a few paces, fires direct at the slate, on which, immediately after the report, the message is discovered. To produce this startling effect all that is necessary is to write the message on the slate with glycerine just before commencing the trick, and to load the pistol with a small charge of powder, on the top of which is placed a quantity of powdered chalk. Any of the above methods may be used in connection with such tricks as “The Spirit Calculator,” “The Great Dictionary Trick,” and any others of a like nature. The Spirit Handkerchief.—The effect of this trick, which is exceptionally good, is as follows: Several knots having been tied in a large silk handkerchief borrowed from a member of the audience, it is thrown on the floor of the stage when it immediately begins to act as if it were a live snake, twisting and twirling in every conceivable form. The performer passes his wand over, under and all round the handkerchief, thus proving to the satisfaction of the most astute that there are no connections. It is hardly necessary to say, however, that in spite of such convincing proof to the contrary, connection is actually made with the handkerchief, and it is done in the following manner: A fine black silk thread is stretched across the stage from one wing to the other, the ends being in the hands of two assistants. Having obtained the loan of the handkerchief, the performer, standing behind the thread, takes it diagonally by two corners and twists it up rope fashion. He then ties three knots in it, one a little below the center, one a little above the center, and the third at one end. While this is being done the assistants raise the thread round which the last knot, forming the head of the snake, is actually tied; but owing to the thread being invisible this will pass unobserved. Having made the last knot the performer drops the handkerchief on the floor, when its emulation of a live snake will depend entirely on the adroit manner in which the assistants manipulate the thread. Finally, it should be made to jump into the hand of the performer, who should at once hand it, with the knots still tied, to the owner. This is managed by the assistant at one end dropping the thread and the other one pulling it clear of the handkerchief. The Mysterious Communication.—This trick, which is a very good one, is performed by a method very little known. The effect is as follows:—Any person writes on a piece of paper any word or series of words to form a short sentence, and having done so, folds the paper and puts it in his pocket. At this stage the performer introduces a reel of telephonic wire, the end of which, containing a loop, is handed to the writer, with a
259 request that he will place the loop over the ball of the left thumb. This having been done, the performer places the reel against his forehead, and, after a few seconds' thought, writes the message, or an answer thereto, on the blackboard. To obtain this result, all that is necessary is to be provided with a piece of paper smeared over on one side with white wax, or common washing soap; also a slab of plate glass by way of writing board. The paper is placed on the glass, waxed side downwards, in which condition the assistant takes it to a gentleman in the audience. When writing on the paper a very faint impression, invisible to anyone who does not actually look for it, is obtained on the glass. In the act of taking the glass back from his assistant the performer obtains the desired cue. The use of the wire is optional, but, of course, it adds much to the effect of the trick. The Great Dictionary Trick (new method.)—This is an improvement on the old trick under this name, as any dictionary may be used, whereas formerly the trick depended entirely upon a dictionary composed of one page repeated throughout. The effect is as follows:— The performer hands a sealed envelope to a spectator, asking him to take care of it, and not break the seal until requested. A dictionary is then given for examination, after which a lady inserts in it, at any page, a playing card. A counter bearing a number, say 27, is taken from a bag containing fifty, all numbered differently; the dictionary is opened at the page containing the card, and due note is taken of the twenty-seventh word indicated by the counter, and which is, we will suppose, “Magic.” The gentleman is next requested to open the envelope, and on doing so finds to his astonishment that it contains a card on which is written “Magic, n, sorcery; enchantment,” in exact accordance with the word chosen, apparently by chance, from the dictionary. The seeming mystery is easily explained. Obtain a new quarter pocket dictionary, and, having opened it somewhere about the middle, bend the covers right back until they touch each other. Any new book used thus will ever afterwards, unless otherwise maltreated, open readily at the same page. After the dictionary has been examined the performer allows it to fall open at this page, into which he secretly introduces a playing card previously palmed in his right hand. The book is then closed. The performer, still holding the book, gives a card, identical in every respect with the other one, to a lady, with a request that she will insert it between the leaves in any position and push it right into the book. The performer, of course, takes care that the two cards do not clash. In this condition the dictionary is laid on the table. A small bag, preferably of silk, is next introduced, from which the performer takes a handful of counters numbered from 1 to 50 and gives them for examination, after which they are returned to the bag. Any person is now allowed to place his hand in the bag and remove one counter, but it is needless to say, however careful he may be, the number chosen will be 27, which is accounted for by the fact that the bag is provided with a division through its entire length, forming two pockets, one of which contains the
260 counters numbered 1 to 50, and the other, fifty counters all bearing the same number, i.e., 27. The dictionary is now opened by the performer at his own page, which every one will take to be the one chosen by the lady; someone is asked to note the twenty-seventh word on that page as indicated by the counter, the trick being brought to a conclusion as already described. The performer can always ensure the left-hand page of the opening being read, by holding the book, with the card, in such a position that the twenty-seventh word on the right-hand page cannot be seen. Care must also be taken not to expose the duplicate card. By way of variation the chosen word may be produced with the sympathetic ink, or it may be revealed by the method employed in “A New Postal Trick.” For the above trick, in the form described, I am indebted to Mr. Maurice Victor, a most skillful exponent of sleight of hand. Long-distance Second Sight.—Two performers, usually a lady and a gentleman, are required for this seance. The gentleman introduces the lady, who is then escorted by a committee, chosen from the audience, to a room in a different part of the house, in which she is secured under lock and key. Several of the committee then guard the room, while the others return to the concert-hall and give the performer the following particulars:— Time shown by any watch (not necessarily the proper time); initials of any person in the room; any number of four figures; any word of four or five letters; number of cigarettes in any case, and kind of case; amount of money in any purse, and kind of purse. After this has been done a member of the committee takes pen, ink, and paper to the lady, who immediately writes down the time, initials, number, etc.; these, on examination, are found to be correct, although she has never left the room, neither has the performer left the stage, and no connection of any description exists between them. This inexplicable performance is thus accomplished: The performer is provided with a small writing pad, 3 in. by 2 in., consisting of a piece of card-board, on which are held, by means of two elastic bands, several cigarette papers. This pad, together with a small piece of soft lead pencil, is placed in the right-hand trousers pocket. As the various items are called out, the performer stands with his right hand in the pocket, a perfectly natural attitude, and appears to be thinking deeply; but he is really writing down the particulars, one under the other, on the cigarette paper, which, with a little practice, can be done quite legibly. He then tears off the paper and rolls it into a small ball between the fingers. A piece of plain paper is now obtained from any member of the audience, in order to prove that a prepared piece is not used, and together with a Fountain Pen, supplied by the performer, is taken, by one of the committee, to the lady. While the paper is being obtained the performer has ample time to remove the cap from the pen-nib, and, before placing it on the opposite end of the pen in the place provided for it, he inserts in it the small ball of paper which is thus secretly carried to the lady. On receipt of the pen and
261 paper the lady requests to be left alone for a few seconds, as otherwise she will not be able to obtain the aid of “the spirits,” and in the absence of the committee-man she takes a hair-pin, and with it extracts the ball of paper from the pen, reads, and writes out the required information. It is necessary that the order in which the various items are called out should be known alike to the performer and medium, as otherwise the “time” might be mistaken for the “number,” and other errors might occur. A number of letters to indicate the various kinds of purses and cigarette cases, as “L.” for leather, “S.” for silver, etc., should also be agreed on between the two parties. It will be obvious that the above trick is subject to much variation according to the taste of the performer, and may be elaborated if desired. A throw of dice; a person's age; or the name of a selected card (write “8 D” for eight of diamonds, etc.) may be substituted for any of the items given above.
CHAPTER VIII MISCELLANEOUS TRICKS Flash Paper.—Having had occasion several times during the course of the present work to make use of “flash paper,” I will now describe the manner in which it is prepared. It is not, however, practical to manufacture it at home, as it can be obtained in large quantities at a very small cost. A mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids, one part of the former to two of the latter, is made, and allowed to stand for twelve hours before using. The, experiment should be made in the open air. Ordinary tissue paper is then immersed in the fluid for a few seconds, after which it is taken out and washed well in clear water, until all trace of acid has been removed. This can be ascertained by the use of blue litmus paper, which when dipped into the water will betray the presence of the acid by turning red. The paper should then be dried in a warm atmosphere, but not near a fire, and it is ready for use. Flash handkerchiefs are prepared in a similar manner. For this purpose take a piece of fine cambric, wash it well in hot water to remove all grease and other impurities, and then treat it in the same way as the paper. A New Fire Flash.—This forms a very good opening trick. The performer steps on the stage and, in what appears to be a careless manner, picks up a piece of paper from the floor, rolls it up in his hands, and throws it in the air, where it disappears in a flame, leaving no trace behind. To produce this effect you must obtain some very fine glass tubing about the thickness of a darning needle, and having broken off several pieces about an inch long, fill them with sulphuric acid. This can be done with the aid of a long piece of india-rubber tubing, the
262 acid being drawn into the glass by suction. The ends of the tube are then sealed hermetically in the flame of a spirit lamp. You must next prepare a powder composed of equal parts of chlorate of potash and powdered lump sugar. Wrap a very small quantity of this powder—about as much as will lie on a dime—together with one of the acid tubes in a piece of flash paper, and all is ready. When rolling up the paper in the hands the tube is broken; the acid escapes and fires the powder, which in turn sets light to the paper and produces the desired result. Caution.—To prevent accidents never prepare the papers, or even mix the powder, until actually required for use. Conjurer's Ammunition.—The magic pistol is usually loaded with a small charge of powder. This is excellent for stage purposes, but hardly suitable for the drawing-room, where some objection might be taken to the employment of powder, even in a small quantity. The pistol, however, need not be discarded, as it can still be used in a manner that will in no way detract from the charm of the trick. Load the pistol with a piece of flash paper, place a percussion cap on the nipple, and pull the trigger. The paper will take fire and be thrown from the pistol, vanishing in a sheet of flame at the opposite end of the room. Again, the pistol need not be loaded at all, but just as you are about to fire you appear to understand that the ladies object, and remark—“Oh! I see the ladies object to the report— well in that case I will use the pistol as an air-gun.” Saying this, you remove the conical tube and blow through it to cause the supposed transmission. Smoke from Two Empty Pipes.—Two empty and clean clay pipes are passed round for examination and proved ostensibly to be unprepared. The bowls are then placed one over the other, when the performer, by simply inserting one of the stems in his mouth, commences to blow clouds of smoke from the pipes. The solution of the mystery is as follows:—A few drops of hydrochloric acid (spirits of salts) are placed in one of the pipes, while the other is similarly treated with ammonia. The union of the two chemicals produces a thick vapor, which has all the appearance of smoke produced from tobacco. A good combination trick may be formed by preparing a glass tumbler and the bottom of a tea plate, as above described; the plate is then placed over the tumbler, the whole being covered with a handkerchief. The smoke so mysteriously produced from the pipes may now be caused, apparently by some occult means, to find its way into the closed tumbler. A New Fire-eating Trick.—This, although a very startling trick, is quite harmless, and can be performed by anyone. Small balls of fire are placed in the mouth and, apparently, swallowed, being immediately afterwards produced from the ears, or any part of the body that fancy may suggest.
263 The balls are small pieces of camphor cut to shape, and are lighted in the flame of a candle. They should be tossed from one hand to the other, and finally into the mouth, which should forthwith be closed. This, of course, extinguishes the balls, which should be secretly removed at the earliest opportunity. The reproduction of the balls of fire is managed with the aid of the acid tubes mentioned above, which, together with a small quantity of the powder, should be wrapped up in flash paper, and deposited about the person as required. The best effect, however, is obtained by producing them from behind the ears; it is also a very convenient method, as the tubes are not so likely to be prematurely fractured. Exploding Soap-bubbles.—This is a novelty, and will be found to produce a very good effect. The bubbles are blown in the usual way with an ordinary clay pipe, the only preparation necessary being that the bowl of the pipe must be filled with cotton-wool soaked in gasoline. Bubbles blown with a pipe thus prepared will be found to explode in a flame when approached with a light. Walnut Shells and Pea.—This is an excellent table trick, and can be performed at close quarters without much fear of detection. The only articles required for the execution of the trick are three half walnut shells and a pea. The three shells are laid in a row on the table, the pea being placed under the center one, from which position it disappears and is ultimately found under either of the end ones at the will of the performer. The table used must be covered with a cloth of some kind. The secret lies in the pea, which is fashioned from a piece of india-rubber, but unless closely inspected cannot be distinguished from the ordinary everyday article. When presenting the trick the pea is actually placed under the middle shell. The shells are then, each in turn, commencing from the one on the left, pushed up the table about 3 in. When moving the middle one the pea, owing to its nature and the concavity of the shell, will be found to work its way out, when it is instantly seized with the thumb and middle finger. This, however, cannot be suspected, as the hand retains a perfectly natural position. The third shell is then moved into a line with the other two. The pea can now be caused to appear under either of the shells at pleasure, all that is necessary being to leave it on the table immediately behind the shell in the act of raising the same. In effect this trick is identical with that known as “Thimble Rigging,” which it is therefore needless to describe, but the secret is much prettier and calculated to deceive more thoroughly. The Garter Trick.—This is a very old trick, and from its title will be recognized at once as common to the sharps who frequent race-courses. It is not, however, generally known, and as it forms a good table trick a description of it may not be out of place. It is usually performed with a piece of stiff half-inch tape; an ordinary inch tape measure will answer the purpose admirably. The tape is folded in half and coiled round and round on the table
264 until it is almost impossible to tell for certain which is the loop proper, i.e., the point at which the tape was doubled (see Fig. 22). The bystander is then requested to place the point of his pen-knife in the loop, but however careful he may be in his selection he will fail, as the performer is able to pull the tape clear of the knife in all cases. The secret lies in the fact that the tape is not folded exactly in half, one end being left shorter than the other by about 3 in. When uncoiling the tape, if the knife be actually placed in the loop, and both ends are pulled from the point A, it will not come away; but if the short end be passed round to the left and both ends pulled from the point B, it will be found to come clear of the knife. All the performer has to do, therefore, is to watch and see if the knife is really placed in the loop or otherwise, and to act accordingly. The short end is carried round under cover of the fingers while twisting the tape.
Fig. 22. METHOD OF FOLDING TAPE. Fig. 22 is arranged for clearness, but in actual practice the tape would receive many more twists, which would also be of a more intricate nature. The Tube and Ball.—This is a very ingenious trick, and well worthy the attention of the most fastidious performer. It can be used in several ways.
265
Fig. 23. TUBE, BALL, AND CAP. The apparatus consists of a piece of 1½ in. brass tubing about 7 in. long, with a cap of the same metal fitting loosely over one end; also two billiard balls about the size of the diameter of the tube. The audience, however, are not supposed to know of the existence of more than one ball. (See Fig. 23). The tube and cap, together with the ball, are given for examination, attention being drawn to the fact that the ball will readily pass through the tube. After examination the tube is stood on one end on the table and covered with the cap. The operator then takes the ball and vanishes it by means of sleight of hand, when, on the tube being raised, it has to all appearance been passed underneath. The secret lies in the fact that there is a very small dent in the side of the tube at the center: also that one of the balls—that given for examination—is slightly smaller than the other. The small ball runs freely through the tube, but the large one will not pass the center on account of the indentation. On receiving back the tube the performer secretly drops the large ball into it, which, owing to the force of the fall, is pinched in the center and will not fall out. In this condition the tube can be turned about in all directions and will still appear empty. When
266 placing it on the table the performer is careful to bring it down rather smartly on the end at which the ball was introduced, when, owing to the concussion, the ball is released and falls on the table. The tube can be used to cause the disappearance of a ball in the following manner:— Place the ball on a tea plate and cover it with the tube, which in turn cover with a second plate. By reversing the position of the structure the ball falls into the tube, where it is retained in the manner described, and after a little more twisting and turning, to add to the general confusion, the plates are removed and the ball is proved to be non est. The ball can of course be reproduced if desired; or if two tubes are used it may be, apparently, passed from one to the other. In this case, however, I would suggest that round discs of wood be used in place of the plates, as the latter would be likely to get fractured in the act of bringing the tube down with sufficient force to dislodge the ball. The Ubiquitous Thimble.—This is one of the prettiest sleight of hand tricks in existence, and requires very little practice. For the purpose of the trick, in its entirety, the performer must be provided with two thimbles exactly alike; but very many surprising passes can be made with one thimble only. The idea of the trick proper is to cause a thimble placed on the forefinger of the right hand to disappear and be found on the corresponding finger of the left hand, without the hands approaching each other. It is usual, however, in the first place, to execute a number of passes with one thimble only, as by this means the audience will be the less likely to suspect the introduction of the second one. The main thing necessary is to acquire the knack of holding a thimble in the fleshy portion of the hand at the root of the thumb, in which position it can be placed, or removed at pleasure, by simply bending the forefinger (see Figs. 24 and 25). This sleight must be executed with equal facility with both hands.
Fig. 24. PALMING THIMBLE. When about to present the trick the performer comes forward with a thimble on the forefinger of the right hand, the second one being in the left-hand trousers pocket. He now appears to place the thimble in the left hand, but really, when the right hand is in motion towards the left, it is palmed as described. The left hand is then brought down with some force on the head and the thimble produced from the mouth on the forefinger of the right hand. This can be done with perfect ease, as, so long as the hand is kept in
267 motion during the recovery of the thimble, there is no fear of the movement being detected.
Fig. 25. THIMBLE PALMED. The thimble is then apparently placed in the mouth, really being palmed as before, and afterwards produced from the bottom of the vest. While doing this the performer stands with the left hand in the trousers pocket and palms the second thimble. Both hands are now held palms away from the spectators, and kept in continual motion. Under cover of this the right-hand thimble is palmed, and that in the left hand produced, when it will appear to have been passed from one hand to the other. This can be repeated as often as desired. Finally the second thimble should be secretly disposed of, and the trick brought to a conclusion with a pass performed with the one only. An additional effect may be obtained by the use of two thimbles, one fitting over the other. These should be made in thin metal so as to be, in point of size, as near alike as possible. The two thimbles, which appear as one only, are placed on the forefinger of the right hand, and covered with a small paper cone, with the remark, “You see the cone just fits the thimble; I will now show you a rather extraordinary experiment with the same.” The cone is then removed, with slight pressure at the base, and placed on the table on the supposition that it is empty, but it really contains the uppermost thimble. The one left on the finger is then vanished, under cover of a throwing movement towards the cone, which is then removed by the apex and the thimble discovered. While all attention is drawn to the table the duplicate thimble is dropped into the profonde. The Multiplying Wand.—The performer comes forward with a plain polished ebony conjuring wand of the ordinary pattern, which he waves about in the air, when it is suddenly seen to have multiplied into two. He then wraps one of these in a piece of newspaper which he instantly crushes into a small compass in his hands, the wand having entirely disappeared.
268 It is needless to say that to produce the above effect two wands are necessary. One, however, is very different from what it represents itself to be, being a mere shell of black, glazed paper. Prior to the commencement of the trick the solid one is encased in the shell, and in this condition it is brought on the stage. In the course of waving it about, the solid article is allowed to slide out of the case, a wand being shown in each hand. These can both be proved, in conjurer's logic, to be perfectly solid by adopting the following ruse:— The performer strikes the table several times with the one in the right hand, which should be the solid one, after which it is apparently placed in the left hand, and the one already there taken and treated in the same way. When, however, the two are both together in the left hand the solid one is again taken, but the spectators, having no reason to suspect trickery, will suppose that the wands have actually changed places. The shell is then rolled up in a piece of paper and crushed in the hands, when, to all appearance, the wand will have disappeared. The trick may very well end here, or the vanished wand may be reproduced. This may be done by having previously concealed a second solid wand in the leg of the trousers, in a pocket similar to that in which carpenters carry a rule. The two solid wands may then be struck together, proving their solidity beyond doubt. The Restored Cut.—This is a very interesting little trick, and is especially suitable for an after-dinner surprise. The performer takes a needle containing about a yard of thread, and passes it through an apple. The cord is then pulled backwards and forwards, after which the apple is cut in half with a table knife; both portions are shown, the cord having to all intents and purposes been severed. The two portions are then united and the cord is pulled backwards and forwards as before. The performer prepares for the trick by passing the needle in at the side of the apple and bringing it out at the end opposite the stalk, in which condition it is laid on the table. When about to present the trick the performer takes up both articles, which if held properly will appear to be separate, and announces that he is about to pass the thread through the apple. He apparently does so, but really inserts the needle at the point where it came out, passing it to the opposite side. The thread is now pulled backwards and forwards, when it will appear to actually traverse the center of the fruit. The apple is then cut in half, at right angles to the cord, which under the circumstances will remain uninjured. The parts are now handed round for inspection, care being taken to keep them together at the bottom, after which they are replaced and the cord shown to be intact. At the conclusion of the trick the thread should be withdrawn from the fruit and given for examination; this also prevents the discovery of the secret by any inquisitive spectator.
269 The Mysterious Tambourine.—It is generally understood that, should the silk hat go out of fashion, conjurers would be at a loss for a suitable article wherewith to work the numerous “production” tricks. Should such a calamity ever befall the profession the mysterious tambourine will, to some extent, come to the rescue. The apparatus consists of two nickel-plated brass rings, 8 in. in diameter and 1 in. deep; the one fitting easily over the other (see Fig. 26). The tambourine is constructed by placing a sheet of paper between the two rings, and pressing the upper one down over the lower, the edges of the paper being afterwards trimmed round with scissors. Thus prepared it is shown back and front.
Fig. 26. RINGS FOR TAMBOURINE. The prestidigitateur then makes a small hole in the center of the paper with his wand, and immediately commences to twist out yard after yard of colored paper ribbon, sufficient being obtained to fill a large clothes basket. If the performer desires to add to the effect of the trick the production of the ribbon may be preceded by that of a number of handkerchiefs, also a quantity of spring flowers and other articles of a like nature. Finally a rabbit or a large bird cage containing a live bird may be produced from the pile of ribbon. The explanation is very simple. The tambourine is put together at the rear edge of the table, and when taking it up prior to trimming the edges, the coil, which was on the servante or suspended at the back of the table, is brought away under cover of the paper and pressed into the ring. The back of the colored coil should be rubbed over with chalk to match the white paper used in the construction of the tambourine which can then be shown back and front, but will still appear empty.
270 The flowers should be done up in three packets of twenty each and laid on the coil, being covered with the handkerchiefs, which should be folded up neatly. The packet is then tied together with thin cotton, which can easily be broken when required. The rabbit is in readiness in the profonde on the right side, and is introduced into the ribbon when picking it up from the floor. The cage, which should be a folding one, is suspended behind the back of a chair, over which the ribbon would be thrown while performing a simple trick with one of the handkerchiefs. In the act of taking the ribbon from the chair opportunity would be found for introducing the cage unobserved. The Bran and Dove Plates.—The trick I am about to describe, in its primary form, consists of changing a quantity of bran or flour into a live dove. It can, how, ever, like the tambourine, be made available for the production of various articles, and is especially suitable for the magical distribution of bonbons, candy, etc. The performer comes forward with an ordinary soup, plate filled to overflowing with bran, a portion of which is scattered over the stage to prove its genuineness. The bran is then covered with a second plate, which on being removed reveals a live dove, the bran having entirely disappeared. The explanation is as follows:—One of the plates is fitted with a tin lining, enameled white on the inside to represent the china (see Fig. 27). The supposed bran is really this tin lining turned upside down with bran gummed all over it; a handful of loose bran being thrown on the top. It is hardly necessary to say that the dove is already in the plate concealed by the bran shape. The false heap of bran is now covered with the second plate, and while talking the performer, in a careless way, turns the plates over several times, finally placing them on the table in such a manner that the one that was formerly uppermost shall now be at the bottom. All he has to do now is to remove the uppermost plate and take out the dove. The inside of the bottom plate should now be shown, when it will appear perfectly empty.
Fig. 27. PLATE AND TIN LINING.
271 In place of the dove the plate may be loaded with candy and small toys, for distribution; or with a list of articles similar to those produced from the tambourine. If a coil of ribbon be used it should be a colored one, with one side rubbed over with chalk so that the inside of the plate may be shown prior to its production. By using two pairs of these plates, and being provided with two doves exactly alike, the bran in one may be made to, apparently, change places with the dove in the other. The Wandering Beer.—The feat bearing this title consists of causing a glass of beer to pass through the crown of a borrowed hat. Having obtained the loan of two hats, the performer places them on the table mouth to mouth, and stands the glass of beer on the crown of the uppermost one, covering it with a paper cylinder of the same height as itself. On removing the cylinder it is shown to be perfectly empty, the glass being immediately taken from the lower hat. For the performance of the trick the operator must be provided with a glass, 3¼ in. high by 2½ in. in diameter at the mouth, tapering very slightly towards the bottom. In addition to the glass and the paper cylinder a piece of glass tubing the same height as the tumbler, and large enough to pass easily over the same, will also be required. This piece of tubing must be browned on the inside to within 1 in. of the top, and finished with a little white paint to represent froth, when, thus, prepared, it will readily pass for a glass containing beer. The paper cylinder, containing the sham glass, being on the table, the performer comes forward with a bottle of beer and fills the tumbler. He then takes up the cylinder and passes his wand right through it, as if to prove that it has not undergone any preparation, after which he places it over the glass of beer. He then puts the glass, still covered with the cylinder, into one of the hats, with the remark, “I will now cause the tumbler to pass from one hat to the other,” then, as if struck with a sudden thought, changes his mind, saying, “No, perhaps it would be more effective if I place the hats one over the other, and pass the glass through the crown of the uppermost one.” Saying this he, apparently, takes the tumbler, still under cover of the cylinder, from the hat, and places it in the required position. Really, however, the beer was left behind, the cylinder and counterfeit glass alone being removed. Now, in order to satisfy the spectators that the beer is actually on the crown of the hat, the performer lifts the cylinder and exposes the sham glass, which everyone believes to be the genuine article. The cover is then replaced and the tumbler commanded to pass into the lower hat, after which it is again raised, together with the counterfeit, and the wand passed through it as before. The hats are then separated and the glass is produced from the lower one. A Crystal Water Mystery.—Chemical tricks, as a rule, do not meet with much favor at the hands of professional conjurers. The reason is pretty clear, as in the majority of cases, the modus operandi is too palpable. The one I am about to describe, however, owing to
272 the number of changes produced, is an exceptionally good one, and is to be found in the repertoire of the leading performers of the day.
Fig. 28. ARRANGEMENT OF JUG AND GLASSES. Four empty glass tumblers, together with a glass jug full of water, are arranged on a tray as shown in Fig. 28. Water poured from the jug into— No. 1, is seen to be clear. No. 2, changes to brown pop. No. 3, is seen to be clear. No. 4, again changes to brown pop. Nos. 1 and 2 mixed equal brown pop. Nos. 3 and 4 equal water. Nos. 1 and 2 put back into the jug give all brown pop. Nos. 3 and 4 put back into the jug give all water, as at first. The explanation, although by no means obvious, is very simple. Glass No. 1 is perfectly clean. No. 2 contains a small portion of pyrogallic acid, about the size of a pea. No. 3 is prepared with half a teaspoonful of sulphuric acid. No. 4 contains the same quantity of pyrogallic acid as No. 2. The jug contains clear water, into which a teaspoonful of sulphate of iron is dropped just before the trick is commenced. The iron should not be placed in the water until actually required for use, as the solution changes rapidly to a
273 yellow color, in which condition it would not very well pass for water. For the same reason the jug should be removed immediately after the trick. Some performers prefer to use the following chemicals in place of those enumerated above. I will give them in the same order, and then the magician may choose for himself. Glass No. 1, as before, is quite clean; No. 2 contains a few drops of muriated tincture of iron; No. 3, a teaspoonful of a saturated solution of oxalic acid; and No. 4 is prepared in the same manner as No. 2. A teaspoonful of tannic acid should be added to the water in the jug prior to the commencement of the experiment. I myself always use the sulphuric acid, as I believe it produces the best result, but in the case of a spill it is very dangerous, and on this account the latter method is to be preferred. The changes, in either case, are quite instantaneous, hence the trick produces a most extraordinary effect. The Wizard's Breakfast.—The magical production of steaming hot coffee has always been a favorite trick with the juveniles, especially when the beverage is handed round for their consumption, and various pieces of apparatus have been designed for effecting this purpose. The most up-to-date method, however, is the one hereafter described: Two boxes, without lids, sizes about 12 in. by 8 in. by 8 in., usually fitting one within the other for convenience in traveling, and containing respectively cuttings of blue and white paper, are introduced to the audience. Two pint goblets, in metal, are then filled, one with blue, and the other with white paper from the boxes, after which they are covered with small silk handkerchiefs. On removing the handkerchiefs the blue and the white papers are found to have been transformed respectively into hot coffee and hot milk. The performer then pours a portion of each fluid into a breakfast cup, and makes a motion as if throwing the whole over the audience, when nothing falls but a shower of blue and white paper cuttings, every vestige of the coffee and milk having disappeared. There are in reality four goblets employed in the trick, two of which, containing the fluids, are concealed in the boxes unknown to the spectators. These two are provided with shallow trays fitting loosely within them at the top, each tray being filled with paper of the required color (Fig. 29).
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Fig. 29. GOBLET WITH SHALLOW TRAY. When presenting the trick the performer comes forward with the box containing the white paper, and throwing a handful in the air, calls out, “Out in the cold,” which remark is perfectly justifiable, as the paper gives a faithful representation of falling snow. Placing this box on the table, and taking up that containing the blue paper, he scatters a handful over the stage with the remark, “This is the same as the white, only the wind blue it.” He now takes one of the goblets from the table and appears to fill it with white paper, but really, while in the box, an exchange is made for the one containing the milk, which, owing to the presence of the shallow tray, will appear to be full of paper. This is then covered with a handkerchief, after which the second goblet is treated in like manner. The shallow trays have each a piece of wire projecting from their upper edge to enable the performer to remove them under cover of the handkerchiefs. The handkerchiefs are thrown in a careless manner over the sides of the boxes, into which, if sufficient paper has been provided, the trays may be secretly allowed to fall. The cup and saucer will next require our attention. These are of metal in imitation of the genuine article, the saucer being made double, with a small hole in the center of its upper side, for a purpose that will presently appear. The cup is provided with a perpendicular
275 division nearly in the center, a small hole being drilled in the bottom of that side next the handle (see Fig. 30).
Fig. 30. PREPARED CUP AND SAUCER. The front and larger side is filled with a mixture of blue and white paper cuttings, and thus prepared, together with the saucer, it is placed on the table. When pouring the coffee and milk into the cup the performer takes care that it goes into the space provided with the small hole, through which it immediately runs into the body of the saucer. It is usual to bring the trick to a conclusion by apparently throwing the fluid over the audience as already described, but should the performer be provided with a number of small cups and a tray, that portion of the beverage not used may be handed round as refreshments. The Hydrostatic Tube.—This is a trick of comparatively recent invention. It requires very careful handling, and the performer must be possessed of almost superhuman nerve to present it successfully to a critical audience. It produces, however, a most extraordinary effect, and on this account is to be recommended. A piece of paper is placed at the bottom of a glass tube or chimney used for gas, which is then filled with water, while the top of the tube is covered with a second piece of paper. The right hand is then placed on the top paper and the position of the tube reversed. The papers are then, each in turn, removed, but the water does not fall from the cylinder: on the contrary, it remains suspended without visible means of support. The papers are now replaced, and the top one is pierced with a hat-pin, when, on the pin being withdrawn, the water at once falls into a basin placed ready to receive it under the tube.
276 This surprising result is due entirely to a well-known natural law, viz., the pressure of the atmosphere, and is nothing more nor less than a modification of the old schoolboy trick of keeping a glass of water inverted by means of a sheet of paper. The new arrangement will, however, require special explanation. Each end of the cylinder is fitted with a glass cap, grooved to fit into and over it at the same time; this is necessary to avoid slipping. The ends of the tube, also the edges of the caps, must be ground, so that the point of juncture shall be air-tight. One of the caps has a small hole drilled through the center (see Fig. 31).
Fig. 31. GLASS CYLINDER AND CAPS. When about to present the trick the two glass caps are laid on the bottoms of two upturned tumblers, where they are quite invisible. The performer then draws attention to two square pieces of paper, which he dips into the water contained in the bowl, afterwards laying them down on the glass tumblers, and over the glass discs. He next shows the tube, passing his wand through it to prove that it has not undergone any preparation. Then taking one of the papers, and at the same time secretly securing one of the discs (not the one with the hole in it), he places it at the bottom of the tube, which is
277 forthwith stood on the palm of the left hand. The tube is then filled with water and covered with the remaining piece of paper and glass cap. The position of the tube is then reversed, after which it is taken by the center and both papers are removed. The water will not run out of the small hole in the bottom cap owing to the fact that no air can get in at the top. The glass caps being absolutely invisible, the water will now appear to be suspended in the tube without any natural means of support. The papers are again placed on the ends of the tube, where, being wet, they readily adhere. The hands are now placed one on each end and the tube is reversed; this is necessary to bring the cap with the hole in it to the top. The top paper is then pierced with the hat-pin, which, passing through the hole in the cap, gives the impression that there cannot be anything but the paper covering the ends of the tube. When the pin is withdrawn the air rushes into the tube, and, as a natural consequence, the paper and disc fall from the bottom, liberating the water. The bowl should be half full of water when the cap falls, to avoid fracture of the glass. The cap is then brought away from the top of the tube under cover of the piece of paper, and both are dropped into the bowl, when the tube can be once more given for examination. The Hydrostatic Tumbler.—This trick, which is similar in principle to that immediately preceding it, is preferred by some as being less cumbersome; it is also easier to work and consequently entails less anxiety on the part of the performer. The effect, however, although pretty, is not quite so startling. The necessary apparatus consists of a glass tumbler with a small hole drilled in the side 1 in. from the bottom, the mouth of which must be fitted with a glass cap in the same manner as the tube in the preceding trick (see Fig. 32).
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Fig. 32. TUMBLER AND CAP. The performer having drawn attention to the tumbler, also a small piece of paper, dips the latter into a bowl of water, and lays it down over the glass cap. The tumbler, held with the thumb covering the small hole, is then filled with water from the bowl, and covered with the piece of paper under which, unknown to the audience, is the glass disc. The glass is then inverted and the paper withdrawn, the water remaining suspended without visible means of support. The tumbler can now be turned about in any direction, without the least fear of the water escaping, so long as the thumb is kept over the small hole in its side. It can also be stood on the table, the hand being removed entirely; the water cannot escape through the small hole owing to the presence of the cap. The tumbler is once more raised and inverted, when the performer undertakes to cause the water to fall at any given number counted by the audience. This last effect, which adds considerably to the trick, is brought about by very simple means; all the performer has to do is to remove the thumb covering the small hole, when the air rushes in and causes the disc to fall. The bowl, as before, should be half full of water, to provide a cushion for the falling disc, which under these circumstances will not be injured, nor its presence detected.
279 Watch, Glass, and Handkerchief.—This is a trick of genuine sleight of hand, and will test the performer's ability in several ways. In effect it is as follows:—Having obtained the loan of a silk hat and a lady's gold watch, the performer wraps the latter in a small silk handkerchief, and thus cared for, places it in a champagne tumbler. The watch, glass, and handkerchief are now caused to vanish one at a time, being, apparently, passed up behind a beam on the ceiling. The hat is then taken, shown perfectly empty, and held at arm's length above the performer's head. The vanished articles are now collected, one at a time, in the hat, into which they are actually heard to fall, being removed as they arrive by the performer. The modus operandi is as follows:—The watch is enfolded in the handkerchief in the same manner as the coin is enfolded in the paper in “A New Coin Fold”, and after having taken it down to the lady that she may satisfy herself by its tick that it is still there, and when returning with it to the stage, it is allowed to slide out of the handkerchief into the profonde on the left side. The handkerchief, which is still supposed to contain the watch, is then placed in the tumbler, which is in turn covered with the hat. You then address the audience somewhat as follows:— “Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my intention to pass these three articles—the watch, glass and handkerchief—up behind that beam on the ceiling. Would you like them to go separately or one at a time?” The last remark, owing to its stupidity, will probably be well received: it, however, means nothing, and you continue, “Visibly or invisibly?” The reply to this is sure to be “Visibly.” You then remark: “Well, in that case I shall have to remove the hat.” This you do with the right hand while standing with the right side to the audience; the left hand under cover of the body taking the watch from the profonde. The hat is then immediately transferred to the left hand, and the watch allowed to slide into it in the act of placing it on the table. Should the reply to the question, “Visibly or invisibly?” be “Invisibly,” the performer need not become confused, as in any case the articles do actually go invisibly. In this case the reply would be, “Certainly, with the greatest pleasure, but for the purpose of the trick I must remove the hat.” The evanishment of the watch is caused by simply taking up the tumbler and shaking out the handkerchief. The disappearance of the tumbler is effected with the aid of a large sheet of newspaper; a sheet torn from the local paper will answer every purpose. In this case you would not omit to mention that you always use that paper in preference to an outsider, it being the more expeditious. The sheet of paper is pressed over the tumbler and molded well into the shape of the same, the tumbler being removed under cover of the edges of the paper and dropped into the profonde on the left side. The center of the paper bearing the profile of the glass is then crushed between the hands, when to all appearance the tumbler will have vanished. The handkerchief is disposed of by palming in the usual way, when the right hand containing it immediately grasps the hat and turns it upside down. This is done by
280 extending the fingers to catch the watch, which then remains hidden in the hand with the handkerchief, when the hat can be shown to be empty. The hat is now held above the head, and after due dramatic effect, the watch is allowed to fall from the hand, after which it is taken from the hat and handed back to the owner. The hat is once more shown empty after which the handkerchief is obtained in the same way. This time, however, the hat is turned upside down and the handkerchief allowed to fall on the floor. While all eyes are on the handkerchief the left hand obtains the glass from the profonde, and in the act of changing the hat over into the left hand to pick up the handkerchief with the right, it is thereby introduced. The hat containing the glass is then held upside down as previously instructed, and both sleeves are pulled back while passing it from one hand to the other. Finally the glass is produced, it being heard to fall into the hat, whence it is taken in due course. Paper Cone, Watch, Rabbit, and Boxes.—The effect of this excellent stage trick is as follows: A watch is borrowed and dropped into a conical paper bag held by one of the spectators. The performer then loads the magic pistol with a small silk handkerchief; this he fires in the direction of the bag, after which the bag is opened and found to contain the handkerchief, the watch having disappeared. Attention is next drawn to a box, which has been hanging over the head of the performer from the commencement of the entertainment, and which on being opened is found to consist of a nest of six boxes, the smallest of which contains a rabbit with the borrowed watch tied round its neck.
Fig. 33. PLAN OF PAPER BAG.
281 The main secret of the trick lies in the paper bag, which is really double, consisting of two pieces of paper gummed together round the edges, the corner of one piece being removed, as in Fig. 33. At the commencement of the trick a small silk handkerchief is hidden between the two pieces of paper, When making the bag it must be so arranged that the corner at which is the opening is at the top. Under cover of the point of the bag the handkerchief is removed from its place of concealment and dropped into the bag proper, the double side being immediately pulled over to the opposite side of the bag to again conceal the handkerchief. If the bag is well made, this side well creased over, a casual glance into its interior will reveal nothing suspicious. In this condition the bag is given to a spectator to hold, and he is then requested to drop the watch into it, which he does, as he thinks, into the bag proper, but really the watch falls into the position previously occupied by the handkerchief. The top of the bag is then folded over. The performer now loads a duplicate handkerchief into the pistol, and, having disposed of it in the usual way, fires in the direction of the bag. He then unfolds the bag and shakes out the handkerchief, being careful to hold the watch so that it does not fall at the same time. He then crumples up the paper in his hands, and in the act of doing so tears out the watch, which is forthwith palmed, the paper being thrown away. The box, which should be suspended with two cords over pulleys, is then lowered; and when taking it in his hands to place it on the table the performer is able to secretly attach the watch to a swivel hook which is hanging on the side most remote from the audience. This swivel hook is attached to the ribbon round the rabbit's neck, the arrangement being as follows:—The ribbon is tied round the rabbit, which is then placed in the smallest box, the ribbon being allowed to hang outside the box when the lid is closed. The box is then placed in the next larger one, the ribbon still being allowed to hang outside. This is continued until the ribbon is left hanging on the outside of the last box. The denouement will now be clear. As the boxes are removed one after the other the watch is suspended behind that last exposed; and when the rabbit is taken out it will be impossible to tell that the watch was not actually removed from the same box.
CHAPTER IX THE BLACK ART, FULLY EXPOSED AND LAID BARE To Determine the Article Selected by the Company, the Performer Being Absent from the Room at the Time of Selection.—The effect of this trick upon the uninitiated is little short of marvelous. The performer places three articles in a row upon the table. As, for instance, a decanter, a glass and a plate. He then requests the company to determine among themselves, in his absence, which of the articles he shall touch on his return. He leaves the room and is recalled when the decision is made.
282 Pretending to examine the articles from various points of view, and after an apparent mental calculation, the conjurer points out the article selected by the company. In order to accomplish this mystery, the performer simply employs a confederate, agreeing with him beforehand upon signs and signals to denote the numbers 1, 2, and 3. For example, the confederate is to pass his hand through his hair for number one; keep his hand on his watch-chain for number two; and do nothing at all for number three. Let it be understood that the articles are to be known by numbers, counting always from the performer's left hand. Thus, the decanter is number one, the glass number two, and the plate number three. The articles being in position, the operator leaves the room. The confederate, of course, remains with the company, who, we will suppose, select the wineglass. The operator is recalled; and, in the course of his examination or calculation, takes an opportunity of stealing a glance at the confederate, who, with his hand on his watchchain, signifies number two (the glass) to be the article selected. The operator may then repeat the performance, varying the effect by requesting the company to place the articles in any other position they please; the operator and his confederate always remembering to count from the left hand. To Knock a Tumbler Through a Table.—This trick is very effective, and calculated to excite an immense amount of curiosity and surprise. Take an ordinary tumbler and a newspaper. Sit on a chair behind the table, keeping the audience in front of it. Place the tumbler on the table and cover it with the newspaper, pressing the paper closely round, so that it gradually becomes fashioned to the form of the glass. Then draw the paper to the edge of the table, and drop the tumbler into your lap—quickly returning the paper to the center of the table; the stiffness of the paper will still preserve the form of the tumbler; hold the form with one hand, and strike a heavy blow upon it with the other; at the same moment drop the tumbler from the lap to the floor; and you will appear to have positively knocked the tumbler through the solid table. Care should be taken after the tumbler is in the lap to place the legs in such a fashion that the glass may slide gradually toward the ankles, so that the fall may not be sufficiently great to break the glass. Care should be also taken to smooth out the paper after the blow has been struck, to prevent suspicion of the fact that the form of the glass was simply preserved by the stiffness of the paper. Never repeat this illusion. To Drive One Tumbler Through Another.—This trick requires some little practice, or the result is nearly certain to be attended with considerable destruction of glass. Select two tumblers of exactly the same pattern, and considerably larger at the top than the bottom—so much so, indeed, that either tumbler will fit at least halfway into the other. Sit on a chair, so that the falling tumbler may fall softly into the lap. Hold one tumbler between the thumb and second finger of the left hand. Then play the other tumbler with the right hand several times in and out of the left-hand tumbler, and during this play contrive at the same instant to retain the right-hand tumbler between the thumb and first finger of the left hand, while the other or lower glass drops into the lap. Well done, this trick has few superiors, and it is worth any amount of practice to achieve it. It would be desirable to get a tinner to make a couple of common tumbler-shaped tin cups to practice with. It will save much expense in glass.
283 The Dancing Skeleton.—This is calculated to excite much astonishment, if well arranged beforehand. Get a piece of board about the size of a large school-slate, and have it painted black. The paint should be what is known as a dead color, without gloss or brightness. Sketch out the figure of a skeleton on a piece of cardboard, and arrange it after the manner of the dancing sailors and other cardboard figures exposed for sale in the toy-stores, so that by holding the figure by the head in one hand, and pulling a string with the other, the figure will throw up its legs and arms in a very ludicrous manner. Make the connections of the arms and legs with black string, and let the pulling string be also black. Tack the skeleton by the head to the black-board. The figure having been cut out, is of course painted black like the board. Now to perform. Produce the board. Show only the side upon which there is nothing. Request that the lights may be reduced about half, and take position at a little distance from the company. With a piece of chalk make one or two attempts to draw a figure; rub out your work as being unsatisfactory; turn the slate; the black figure will not be perceived; rapidly touch the edges of the cardboard figure with chalk, filling up ribs, etc., at pleasure, and taking care that nothing moves while the drawing is progressing. Then manipulate with the fingers before the drawing, and request it to become animated. By pulling the string below the figure it will, of course, kick up the legs and throw about the arms, to the astonishment of everybody. A little music from the piano will greatly assist the illusion. The Head of the Decapitated Speaking.—This illusion, performed with a table, under which two pieces of looking-glass are placed, at an angle of forty-five degrees, concealing the body of the actor, attracted thousands when first exhibited. The Mystery of the Floating Head.—One of the most startling of conjurors' tricks, and one which has piqued public curiosity to the utmost, is that sensationally announced as the “Human Head Floating in the Air.” Multitudes have witnessed and wondered at this performance, which seems to have defied any explanation by the uninitiated.
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That the head is a gutta-percha or plaster affair, is a pet theory with those who have not seen it, but after witnessing the exhibition this idea is reluctantly discarded. In reality it is a human head, and the seeming absence of any body attached thereto will be accounted for as soon as we disclose the mystery and secret of the performance. The sides and back of the stage are hung with curtains. Near the back of the stage two mirrors are placed at right angles, the point, equi-distant from each side of the stage, facing the audience. The mirrors being at angles with the sides, of course reflect the curtains at the sides, and these curtains being the same in style and material, their reflection has the same appearance as the curtain at the back of the stage. The audience seeing this reflection naturally imagine they are having an unobstructed view of the back of the stage.
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Behind this wall of glass the conjuror's confederate takes his position, of course only that part of his person which is above the glass being visible. So the “floating head” is really a man peeping over a glass fence. The cushion which is commonly used to apparently support the head, is suspended outside of the glass, by fine wire. The exhibitor is always careful to keep out of the angles of the glass, otherwise he would be reflected, and the existence of the glasses disclosed to the audience. When standing at the stage “wings,” or when directly in front of the central “point” of the mirrors, he is secure from reflection. Our illustrations will, we think, make this explanation perfectly clear. The first shows the head as it appears to the audience; the second shows the position, behind the glass, of the individual personating the “head.” In the latter picture the spectator is supposed to be looking through the mirrors. Thick plate glass will answer equally as well as the mirrors in exhibiting this trick. To Place a Lighted Candle Under Water, Without Extinguishing It; Or a Handkerchief Without Wetting It.—Procure a good-sized cork, or bung; upon it place a small lighted taper; then set it afloat in a pail of water. Now, with a steady hand, invert a large drinking glass over the light, and push it carefully down into the water. The glass being full of air prevents the water entering it. You may thus see the candle burn under water, and bring it up again to the surface, still alight. This experiment, simple as it is, serves to elucidate that useful contrivance called the diving-bell, being performed on the same principle.
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The largest drinking-glass holds but half a pint, so that your diving-light soon goes out for want of air. As an average, a burning candle consumes as much air as a man, and he requires nearly a gallon of air every minute, so that, according to the size of the glass over the flame, you can calculate how many seconds it will remain alight; of course a large flame requires more air than a small one. For this and several other experiments, a quart bell-glass is very useful, but, being expensive, it is not found in every parlor laboratory; one is, however, easily made from a green glass pickle bottle; get a glazier to cut off the bottom, and you have a bell-glass that Chilton would not reject. In the same manner you may put a handkerchief rolled tight together, and it will not wet. To Place Water in a Drinking-Glass Upside Down.—Procure a plate, a tumbler, and a small piece of tissue or silver paper. Set the plate on a table, and pour water in it up to the first rim. Now very slightly crumple up the paper, and place it in the glass; then set it on the fire. When it is burnt out, or rather just as the last flame disappears, turn the glass quickly upside down into the water. Astonishing! the water rushes with great violence into the glass! Now you are satisfied that water can be placed in a drinking-glass upside down. Hold the glass firm, and the plate also. You can now reverse the position of the plate and glass, and thus convince the most skeptical of the truth of your pneumatic experiment. Instead of burning paper, a little brandy or spirits of wine can be ignited in the glass; the result of its combustion being invisible, the experiment is cleaner. The Faded Rose Restored.—Take a rose that is quite faded, and throw some sulphur on a chafing-dish of hot coals; then hold the rose over the fumes of the sulphur, and it will become quite white; in this state dip it into water, put it into a box, or drawer for three or four hours, and when taken out it will be quite red again. The Protean Liquid.—A red liquor, which, when poured into different glasses, will become yellow, blue, black, and violet, may be thus made: Infuse a few shavings of
287 logwood in common water, and when the liquor is red, pour it into a bottle; then take three drinking-glasses, rinse one of them with strong vinegar, throw into the second a small quantity of pounded alum, which will not be observed if the glass has been newly washed, and leave the third without any preparation. If the red liquor in the bottle be poured into the first glass, it will assume a straw-color; if into the second, it will pass gradually from bluish-gray to black, provided it be stirred with a bit of iron, which has been privately immersed in good vinegar; in the third glass the red liquor will assume a violet tint. The Burned Handkerchief Restored.—Get a flat-topped stand, such as is shown at A, and make a neat pasteboard or tin cover, as is seen at C, and be sure to ornament it with various showy devices. The cover must slip very easily over the stand. Cut a flat circular plate, B, the least bit wider than the top of A, and just large enough to slip easily into C. Here is all your apparatus. Before you show this trick, place in your pocket a piece of white rag that looks like a handkerchief. Borrow a clean white cambric handkerchief from among the audience, and just before you receive it, conceal in your hand the white rag. Have the apparatus ready on a side table, with the movable plate laid on the stand, Lay the handkerchief on the plate, place the cover over the handkerchief, and press it down with a smart slap.
Now take off the cover, squeezing it well so as to take up the plate as you do so; put your hand into it as if about to pull out the handkerchief, and substitute in its stead the white rag. Lay the rag on the stand, apply a match to it, and let it burn to ashes. Replace the
288 cover on the stand, and press it down. Then loosen the grasp of the hand and the plate will fall on the stand, completely concealing the ashes. Lift the cover gently, when the handkerchief will fall upon the plate, and may be restored unhurt to the owner. Eatable Candle Ends.—Take a large apple and cut out a few pieces in the shape of candle ends, round at the bottom and flat at the top, in fact, as much like a piece of candle as possible. Now cut some slips from a sweet almond, as near as you can to resemble a wick. and stick them into the imitation candle. Light them for an instant, to make the tops black, blow them out, and they are ready for the trick. One or two should be artfully placed in a snuffer-tray, or candle-stick; you then inform your friends that during your “travels in the Russian Empire,” you learned, like the Russians, to be fond of candles; at the same time lighting your artificial candles (the almonds will readily take fire, and flame for a few seconds), pop them into your mouth; and swallow them, one after the other. To Make a Watch Stop or Go at the Word of Command.—Borrow a watch from any person in company and request of the whole to stand around you. Hold the watch up to the ear of the first in the circle and command it to go. Then demand his testimony to the fact. Remove it to the ear of the next, and enjoin it to stop. Make the same request of that party, and so on through the entire party. Explanation: You must take care in borrowing the watch that it be a good one and goes well; have concealed in your hand a piece of loadstone, which, as soon as you apply it to the watch, will occasion suspension of its movements, which a subsequent shaking and withdrawing of the magnet will restore. How to Cut Your Arm Off Without Hurt or Danger.—You must provide yourself with two knives, a true one and a false one, and when you go to show this feat, put the true knife in your pocket, and then take out the false and clap it on your wrist undiscovered, and with a sponge make the knife bloody, and it will appear you have nearly severed your arm.
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A knife for the nose may be made on the same principle. To Pour Cold Water Into a Kettle and Make It Come Out Hot Without the Aid of Fire.—You give a pint of cold water to one of the company, and taking off the lid of the kettle, you request him to put it into it; you then put the lid on the kettle. Take the pint and the exact quantity of water comes out of the kettle boiling hot. This trick is performed in the following way: The kettle has two bottoms; boiling water has been previously conveyed into it through the nose. There is no passage for the cold water, which is put in when the lid is off; consequently, the hot water can alone be poured out. This trick may be varied, and for the better; as the heat of the water may betray it, should the bottom of the kettle be full. You may therefore propose to change water into wine or punch. A coffee-pot may be made on a similar plan; but a kettle is preferable, it being more likely from its size and breadth, to baffle the examination of the curious. This trick may also be improved by an additional expense, so that whatever liquor is on either bottom may be poured out occasionally. For this purpose there must be a double passage to the nose of the kettle, and secret springs to stop either passage. How to Cut a Man's Head Off, and Put It into a Platter, a Yard from His Body.—To show this feat, you must cause a board, a cloth, and a platter to be purposely
290 made, and in each of them must be made holes fit for a boy's neck. The board must be made of two planks, the longer and broader the better; there must be left within half a yard of the end of each plank half a hole, that both the planks being put together, there may remain two holes like the holes in a pair of stocks. There must be made likewise, a hole in the cloth; a platter, having a hole of the same size in the middle thereof, must be set directly over it; then the boy sitting or kneeling under the board; let the head only remain upon the board in the frame. To make the sight more dreadful put a little brimstone into a chafing-dish of coals, and set it before the head of the boy, who must gasp two or three times that the smoke may enter his nostrils and mouth, and the head presently will appear stark dead, and if a little blood be sprinkled on his face, the sight will appear more dreadful. (This is commonly practiced with boys instructed for that purpose). At the other end of the table where the other hole is made, another boy of the same size as the first boy must be placed, his body on the table and his head through the hole in the table, at the opposite end to where the head is which is exhibited.
To Turn Water into Wine.—Take four beer glasses, rub one of them on the inside with a piece of alum; put in the second a drop of vinegar; the third empty, and then take a mouthful of clean water and a clean rag, with ground brazil tied in it, which must lie betwixt your hind teeth and your cheek. Then take of the water out of the glass into your mouth, and return it into the glass that has the drop of vinegar in it, which will cause it to have the perfect color of sack; then turn it into your mouth again, and chew your rag of brazil, and squirt the liquor into the glass, and it will have the perfect color and smell of claret; returning the brazil into its former place, take the liquor into your mouth again, and presently squirt it into the glass you rubbed with alum, and it will have the perfect color of mulberry wine. Magic Breath.—Put some lime-water in a tumbler; breathe upon it through a small glass tube. The fluid, which before was perfectly limpid, will gradually become white as
291 milk. If allowed to remain at rest for a short time, real chalk will be deposited at the bottom of the tumbler. To Make a Party Appear Ghastly.—This can only be done in a room. Take half a pint of spirits, and having warmed it, put a handful of salt with it into a basin, then set it on fire, and it will have the effect of making every person within its influence look hideous. How to Eat Fire.—Anoint your tongue with liquid storax, and you may put a pair of red-hot tongs into your mouth, without hurting yourself, and lick them till they are cold. You may also take coals out of the fire and eat them as you would bread; dip them into brimstone powder, and the fire will seem more strange, but the sulphur puts out the coal, and if you shut your mouth close you put out the sulphur, and so chew the coals and swallow them, which you may do without offending the body. If you put a piece of lighted charcoal into your mouth, you may suffer a pair of bellows to be blown into your mouth continually and receive no hurt; but your mouth must be quickly cleaned, otherwise it will cause a salivation. This is a very dangerous trick to be done, and those who practice it ought to use all means they can to prevent danger. I never saw one of these fire-eaters that had a good complexion. To Dip the Hand in Water Without Wetting It.—Powder the surface of a bowl of water with lycopodium; you may put your hand into it and take out a piece of money that has been previously put at the bottom of the bowl, without wetting your skin; the lycopodium so attaching itself to the latter as to keep it entirely from coming in direct contact with the water. After performing the experiment, a slight shake of the hand will rid it of the powder. How to Shoot a Bird and Bring It to Life Again.—Load your gun with the usual charge of powder, but instead of shot put half a charge of quicksilver; prime and shoot. If your piece bears ever so little near the bird, it will find itself stunned and benumbed to such a degree as to fall to the ground in a fit. As it will regain its senses in a few minutes, you may make use of the time by saying, that you are going to bring it to life again; this will astonish greatly the company; the ladies will no doubt interest themselves in favor of the bird, and intercede for its liberty. Sympathizing with their feelings for the little prisoner may be the means of some of them sympathizing with yours. Hideous Metamorphosis.—Take a few nut-galls, bruise them to a very fine powder, which strew nicely upon a towel; then put a little brown copperas into a basin of water; this will soon dissolve and leave the water perfectly transparent. After any person has washed in this water, and wiped with the towel on which the galls have been strewed, his hands and face will immediately become black; but in a few days by washing with soap they will again become clean. This trick is too mischievous for performance. How to Fill a Glass With Beer and Water at the Same Time, Without Mixing the Two Liquids.—It is done thus:—Half fill a tumbler with beer, then take a piece of brown paper or thin card, and placing it on the top of the beer, let it get perfectly still and
292 quiet, taking care to keep the table on which the tumbler is placed quite steady. When all vibration has ceased, take some clear spring water, and having a small phial filled with it, proceed to pour it on the card a
