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The
TRICK
BRAIN
CHAPTER TWENTY
There seems but a fine line dividing mental control tricks from the animation effect. In many of the control routines animation methods are utilized. But not all control tricks are effects of animation The Spirit Clock illustrates this clearly. In the conventional version the hand is placed on the dial and the performer gives the initial impetus when he sets the hand to spinning. There is no doubt what makes the hand spin. But the control feature comes into the operation in connection with where the hand stops. The magician seems to control this through some mysterious power.
On the other hand, when the Kellar version is utilized the hand seems to be put in motion without any assistance from the performer. It moves through its own power. Here the effect is unquestionably one of animation until the matter of the stopping place of the hand is encountered. Then, the control effect is made manifest. So it may be seen that many control effects are combinations with animations.
The method used for the control feature in the clock trick is the use of an adjustable weight that causes the hand to stop at whichever hour set. The animation feature is simply the application of power through an invisible connection—in this case the thread operating over a tiny pulley connected to the center spindle.
Animation methods are used in the rapping hand, the spirit bell and the talking skull. Yet these are control effects, as well, because questions are answered. All three of these tricks are operated by various methods, depending upon the individual version, yet their operation is under the control of the performer or an assistant. Of course, invisible threads have been used for all of them. But concealed mechanism or concealed connection to the source of power has been used with the three of them. And controlled center of gravity has supplied the motive power in versions of the rapping hand and the talking skull.
The original version of The Spirit Bell was operative through a thread, a thread that connected with a mechanism concealed in the stand from which the bell was suspended. This version also included the taking of the bell into the audience, with the ringing and tapping continuing while it was held on the end of a wand. Actually the performer's fingers operated a button at one end of the wand. This button connected with a lever that engaged the striking mechanism of the bell.
An improved version of the control feature of the spirit bell is one that was invented by John Mulholland. This bell is suspended upon a small stand that is isolated within a glass cover. Here an acoustic deception is utilized. The ringing of a concealed bell, actuated by a clockwork striking mechanism, substitutes for the ringing of the real bell. There are several versions of this variation, including one with an alarm clock. Control of the ringing is accomplished through a lever that operates by means of relaxing the pressure of the arm or of the abdominal muscles, when the ringer is attached beneath the belt.
An ancient version of the control effect is the one in which a number of coins, placed in a tumbler, answer the questions by jumping up and down. This, again, is a thread method, although an adaptation of the board mechanism, as used in the Dr. Q. Rapping Hand, could be applied to this. And it could be applied, as well to many other control tricks. William Larsen contributed one original variation of the Dr. Q. Rapping Hand several years ago in an issue of THE SPHINX. He substituted a small high-heeled slipper for the hand. The slipper, once the property of a dancer who had since passed on, quite consistently tapped out answers.
A drumstick might be used in this way, whether operated by the thread, which is difficult in these days of intimate or extremely complicated conditions, or by one of the concealed mechanisms, whether manually motivated or controlled automatically.
Automatic control by a clockwork, which is preset for a definite routine, supplies the motive power for The Snake Trick in its original form. The snake goes through a previously determined routine. The performer adapts his routine to fit the movements of the snake. Later versions have utilized other animation methods, including the thread.
Another control trick of the thread-operated variety is the rising and falling ball that is seldom seen now.
The Obedient Ball, which slides down a cord and stops on command, is controlled through a curved hole drilled through the ball. Pulling the cord causes the ball to bind and stop during its descent. Curved hollow tubes, imbedded in various kinds of fruit such as oranges and apples, adapt this method to other objects besides balls.
Quite common to all magicians are the tricks where a desired card is located by spelling down to it, removing a card for each letter. Other versions have a number called and find the card by removing those above it to the desired number, counting them one by one. In both cases the selected card is secretly placed at the desired number, through stratagem or sleight, prior to the spelling or counting. Or the card is brought to the desired location from a known place, usually at the top or bottom of the deck, by stratagem or sleight. In some versions of the spelling trick the card is always placed at the same location and the spelling of the card is changed to make the last letter of the last word come out so as to locate the desired card. Whether tricks in this category actually belong to mental control or to identification is debatable. There are elements of both basic effects present.
The sand trick, the one in which several colored sands are mixed in water and subsequently withdrawn individually, unquestionably belongs to the control division. Here a waxed lump of each color is hidden within the handful of sand as each is poured into the bowl. The mixed loose sands cause the water to become muddy and conceal the lumps. As the desired color is needed the performer finds the proper lump and brings it forth. The lump is crushed in the fist and is poured out as loose sand of the proper color.
Using this identical plot, almost the same effect may be accomplished with liquids. Take the cocktail trick for instance. It could be changed so that in the beginning a number of different liquors are mixed together. Then the performer pours out the specific one desired as it is called. This could be done in several ways. Probably the most convenient would be to use the present method as applied to the conventional cocktail routine. Simply prepare the glasses with the proper concentrated essences. As a liquor is desired, select the glass that corresponds.
In one method of doing the liquid version of the sand trick the various liquids that are mixed may be actually neutral, being merely unflavored but properly colored. These are placed, obviously each colored to suit the individual liquid, in bottles properly labeled for the performer's purposes.
Another way of handling the mixed liquids is to design a special cocktail shaker which would retain the liquids poured into it but which would also release neutral liquids from a secret supply when the mixed liquid is apparently poured out. The changing canister adapted to a cocktail shaker, as has been used for the cocktail trick, is one possible device.
Of course, liquors do not have to be used. Nonalcoholic flavors would supply a similar effect. The performer mixes such flavors as strawberry, raspberry, lemon, pineapple and vanilla. Then he pours out the desired flavor as required.
The sand trick may also be adapted to colored confetti, with the performer bringing forth a handful of the desired color from a variegated mixture. Almost the exact method, except for the water, as that used for the sand trick, is possible.
There is still the class of control effect that includes the various types of puppets. Laurie Ireland's Otto, the Duck is an outstanding case. This wooden caricature, controlled by the fingers, selects a desired card by taking it from a deck placed in a little box in front of it. The animation feature and the control are both operated by the performer. In the case of the selection of the card, there is only one card the duck can pick up. This card is the top one. Of course, other actions of the duck are under direct control.
Orrin brought out the first of these inanimate trained pets with Ridiculous Ruppert, a figure of a dog that wags his tail and bobs his head to answer questions. The method of operating it, like the duck, is that the fingers of the hand holding the tray or board upon which it is mounted control it. There are many other birds and animals, and even insects, which could be similarly used.
Automatons are not at all new ideas. They predate both the duck and the dog by many centuries. Usually they were much larger and permitted a secret place of concealment for the human operator. These included figures which played chess, played musical instruments, wrote messages and performed many other operations requiring human reasoning.
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