Magic Part 2

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 pa.s.s 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 Pa.s.s 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 pa.s.sing the coin right through my body, commencing from behind, up into my left hand" (as you say this you extend the hand closed). Some one 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 toward the audience. The right hand 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 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 travelling 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 pa.s.s, 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 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 some one 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 a.s.sistant--"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.

TO Pa.s.s A COIN INTO AN ORDINARY MATCHBOX HELD BY ONE OF THE SPECTATORS.--Prepare a matchbox as follows:--Push open the sliding portion about one inch. 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 some one 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-GLa.s.s, AND PAPER CONE.--This very pretty and amusing table trick consists in causing a coin placed under a wine-gla.s.s, the whole being covered with a paper cone, to disappear and return as often as desired.

The following arrangements are necessary:--Take a wine-gla.s.s, 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 gla.s.s.

Obtain a j.a.panese tray and on it lay a large sheet of paper similar to that covering the mouth of the gla.s.s, and stand the gla.s.s, mouth downward, on it. Make a paper cone to fit over the gla.s.s and you are ready to present the illusion.

Borrow a penny and lay it on the large sheet of paper by the side of the wine-gla.s.s; cover the gla.s.s with the paper cone, and place the whole over the coin. Command the penny to disappear, and on removing the cone it will seem to have done so, as the paper over the mouth of the gla.s.s, 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 gla.s.s 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 pa.s.sed 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 enamelled white and have an opening in one side large enough for the coins to pa.s.s 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 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 gla.s.s 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 pa.s.sing them from one hand to the other. The pa.s.s 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 CENTRE 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 half dollar dropped into the tumbler to slip through into your hand. (See Fig. 8.)

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 8.--Prepared Tumbler]

Obtain a small metal box large enough to take the coin easily, also a flat tin tube about three inches long and just wide enough for the half dollar to slide through it. Place one end of this tube inside the box and close the lid on it, keeping it in position by pa.s.sing an elastic band over the box. You now wrap the box in paper and wind a quant.i.ty of wool round it until you get a large ball with the end of the tube projecting about one inch. 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 half dollar, which has been marked by the owner, allowing him to actually drop it into the gla.s.s. 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 gla.s.s basin and have the wool unwound, disclosing the box; on this being opened the marked coin will be found within.

TO VANISH A NUMBER OF COINS FROM A PLATE IN A SHEET OF FLAME.--Place a tea-plate 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.

Every one 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 a.s.sistant is required, is as follows:--The performer borrows a marked half dollar 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 coin 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 pa.s.ses 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 the marked half dollar 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 money, that he may open it and satisfy himself that it actually contains his own coin.

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 half dollar, in the act of handing it to the gentleman for examination, he adroitly changes it for one of his own bearing the mark of a 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 pa.s.s through, is placed in the smallest envelope. After the coin has been introduced this tube is withdrawn, left in the pocket, and the envelopes closed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 9.--Packet of Three Envelopes]

The flaps of the envelopes are sealed with wax beforehand and prepared with the 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 half dollar 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 half dollar thereon. By the time the first coin is taken from the envelopes the packet containing the actual borrowed coin will be dry and ready for use.

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 subst.i.tutes 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 subst.i.tutes this as before when handing the gentleman the envelopes to take to the lady.

FILTRATED COIN.--Borrow a half dollar from one of the company, wrap it up in a handkerchief, and request some one to hold it over a gla.s.s of water on the table. Hey, presto! The coin is dropped into the gla.s.s and heard to jingle. When the handkerchief is removed the half dollar has disappeared, having been apparently dissolved in the water. Placing your hand under the table you produce the coin, which you declare has pa.s.sed through the gla.s.s and table-top. This exceedingly effective trick is accomplished by means of a gla.s.s disk of the same diameter as a half dollar. The modus operandi is as follows: Borrow a half dollar and while holding it in your hand throw a handkerchief over it. Under cover of the handkerchief exchange the coin for the gla.s.s disk which you have concealed in your palm. Now get some one to hold the disk by its edges through the handkerchief, directly over the gla.s.s of water.

p.r.o.nounce your magical phrase, and command your volunteer a.s.sistant to drop the half dollar (disk) into the gla.s.s. The disk will be precipitated into the gla.s.s with a jingle that exactly simulates the falling of a genuine coin, and will adhere to the bottom of the gla.s.s, where it will not be seen. You may even pour out the water, but the disk, thanks to the power of suction, will remain in the same position, firmly attached to the drinking gla.s.s, which of course must have a flat bottom. A ginger-ale or beer gla.s.s of small diameter comes in handy for this capital trick. After sufficient palaver, the genuine half-dollar may be reproduced from under the table or from the pocket of the volunteer a.s.sistant.

THE PENETRATING COIN.--This coin trick may be performed anywhere, and requires no special preparation. A borrowed Derby hat is placed upon the mouth of a tumbler, (Fig. 10). Three half dollars are now borrowed and tossed into the hat, whereupon one of the coins is seen to penetrate the crown of the hat, and drop visibly and audibly into the tumbler beneath. It is thus explained. In the act of placing the hat on the gla.s.s, secretly and without jingling, slip a coin of your own between the rim of the gla.s.s and the hat. The weight of the latter will retain the coin in position, which of course is on the side of the hat farthest from the spectators. The dropping of the borrowed coins in the hat will disturb the balance of the secret half-dollar, causing it to fall into the tumbler. It is hardly necessary to remind the student that the fourth coin must be gotten rid of unbeknown to the audience, otherwise the effect of the experiment will be destroyed. In putting the hat in position two hands may be used. This will greatly facilitate the placing of the coin on the rim of the tumbler. You should lay stress on the fact that it is necessary to get the hat evenly on the gla.s.s. As simple as this trick seems in explanation, it is nevertheless wonderfully illusive, and can be recommended to the amateur as worthy of his repertoire, especially for the parlor, or club room.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 10.--Penetrating Coin]

An excellent coin trick, to be used in conjunction with the preceding illusion, is the following: The performer shows a coin and forthwith proceeds to pa.s.s it into the hat by way of the crown. That there may be no doubt as to the actual pa.s.sing of the coin it is left sticking half way through the hat; a final push and it is heard to fall inside. The coin used is a trick one constructed as follows: A groove is first turned round its extreme edge deep enough to conceal a small india-rubber band. It is next cut in half across its diameter. A hole is drilled in the centre of one half in which is inserted a needle point. In the other half a slot is cut to admit the needle. The two halves are now placed together and kept in position by pa.s.sing the band round the groove afore mentioned. (See Fig. 11.) This coin has a distinct advantage over the older form in which the one half only was used, in so far that it may at the outset be shown as an ordinary coin.

When giving the final push it is, of course, withdrawn and palmed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 11.--Trick Coin]