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The CHAPTER THREE
How do magicians go about it when they desire to cause something to appear mysteriously? To perform magical creation? To accomplish apparently miraculous production?
At present, there are three general expedients.
The most common solution of the problem is a laborious and tedious search. Catalogues are thoroughly shifted. Textbooks on magic are thumbed from cover to cover. The performances of other magicians are eagerly scouted. And the magic shops are visited again and again.
Of course, the deliberate decision to add an effect of a definite nature is not the usual way the average magician adds to his routine or repertoire. The usual trick is added by the run-of-the-mill magical enthusiast simply because something in the number appeals to him. It might be the appearance of the apparatus. Or the apparent profundity of the method, the deceptive feature. Or the comedy potentialities. Or any of a number of other factors.
I'm convinced this is NOT the correct way to add program material. It seems far better to me to add material from the viewpoint of its importance in adding entertainment value to the performer's routine.
However, should a magician decide to add a production or appearance number to his program, usually through search he finds some type of trick that supplies the desired general effect. The specific trick selected usually determines the object with which the effect is accomplished. Then, the object to be used established, if he desires to tie it into a unified routine, he shapes and warps and changes matters until he meets his requirements as nearly as possible.
The somewhat more exacting magician will usually adopt the second method. Here, he will decide to add some type of production or mysterious appearance. Before embarking upon his search, he will determine the object or objects with which he wishes to accomplish the effect. Then, as before, he will make the search. But this investigation is not so general. Specifically, he knows what he wants to cause to appear. His hunt is limited to tricks in which the desired object is used.
If he fails in his search, or if the tricks he finds do not seem satisfactory to him, usually he will decide upon a second object to take the place of the first choice. Then he makes the search all over again.
The third method of adding the desired effect is to decide what to use and to invent a method of accomplishing it. This, of course, occurs seldom. It is a tiresome, tedious, arduous mental process. And most magicians do not care for mental processes, even those of minor difficulty.
This type of invention is largely hit or miss. It relies to a great extent upon luck and inspiration.
But if this inventor had ever tried marshaling all of the possible methods, his difficulties would have been simplified considerably. Really, there are not many basic ways of accomplishing a magical appearance.
Generally, a production, or an appearance, is an effect in which the aspect to the spectator is the materialization of something or someone. This appearance may be either gradual or instantaneous. It may take place out in the open, uncovered, or back of, or within or beneath something. It is essential, of course that the effect be accomplished without apparent reasonable physical causation.
As it appears to the spectator, the performer may just be standing in sight and suddenly he may be seen holding something, something which was not visible a moment before. Or an object may become visible at a place removed from the magician. Or the entertainer may take something from a place previously shown empty.
Again, the magician apparently might catch something on the end of some object he may be holding, such as a wand, a fish line, or a net. A particularly impressive appearance is that during which an object or a person seems to materialize gradually from thin air, becoming first a nebulous outline which slowly takes on more and more opaque substance. Close to this type of production is the one where a nucleus is seen to develop into the object finally produced.
Right at the start, in discussing appearances let it be clearly realized that no magician can create anything. Therefore, the subject of the eventual production must be hidden somewhere. The problem, then, becomes one of arranging a suitable hiding place and devising a method of getting the subject from that place of concealment to the place of production in such a manner that the subject will seem to be produced magically. It is a matter of concealing the subject in a hiding place incorporated in the place of production, or concealing its acquirement and conveyance from a more or less removed place of concealment.
Practically all of these productions are accomplished through one or a combination or a variation of a comparative few basic principles.
The most elemental of all production methods comes to mind instantly. Concealed within the clothing worn by the performer is the object to be produced. A billiard ball is the most common example, perhaps. The magician reaches into the air and apparently grasps the object. At the same time, while the spectators' attention is on the hand reaching for the object, the other hand unobtrusively actually secures it. Then the hand, which has reached into the air, is brought to the hand actually containing the object. The performer apparently places it in the latter hand and holds it up to view.
The object to be produced has been secured from a secret hiding place and has been brought into position for revelation, while the spectators' attention has been directed elsewhere.
This stratagem has been used for many years for the production of cigars, cigarettes, balls, cards, eggs, glasses of liquid and many other things. It is also usable for the production of many other things, things not so commonly associated with this principle. I might suggest eyeglasses, fountain pens, pieces of rope, sandwiches, pineapples-fruit or explosive, scissors, newspapers or anything else under the sun, of suitable size and material.
As an example we might paraphrase a Lloyd Enochs variation of a Jardine Ellis wineglass production. Instead of a wineglass, let us assume that we need a pair of scissors for a cut rope trick we are about to do. The scissors are hanging point down from a clip. This clip is secured to the performer's vest at about belt height. The whole, clip and scissors, is concealed by the left side of the coat. Or the clip may be dispensed with, the point of the scissors being tucked between the waistband of the trousers and the body, handle upwards.
Now the performer wipes his hands with his handkerchief. Holding the handkerchief in his left hand, he allows it to fall down, retaining it by one corner clipped between the first and second fingers. Meanwhile the performer's right hand is exploring the right vest pocket. But the search is fruitless and he takes the handkerchief in his right hand to allow the left to similarly investigate the left vest pocket. Still nothing. So with a shrug, he spreads the handkerchief over the right palm, lifts it from the center once or twice. Finally, he lifts it a bit higher and releases it. The handkerchief fails to fall. A pointed object that seems to be standing on the right palm supports it. When the handkerchief is taken away, the scissors are revealed.
Employing the principle of securing the object from a secret hiding place while the attention is directed elsewhere, the magician simply reached clear across the body and slipped his second and third fingers into the loops of the handles. He did this in the act of taking the handkerchief from the left hand with his right. But the right went right on past the hanging handkerchief, clipped the scissors, then lifted to the fingers of the left to take the handkerchief. Beneath it, he carried the scissors.
He allowed the scissors to hang below the right hand, the folds of the handkerchief concealing them. Then, when he wanted the scissors to appear, he simply closed his hand into a fist, bringing the scissors upright. The handkerchief fell upon the scissors point and a moment later was taken away to disclose the production.
Almost the same method will allow a magician to produce a large stem goblet-I mean a large one. In this case the goblet is held underneath the coat beneath the left armpit, base in front and container portion in back. The left hand is held a bit higher just prior to the move.
But this principle has several variations, as well. Sometimes it is used with a form.
A ring within a double handkerchief has been used for years for the production of a tumbler of water. This ring simulates the materialization of the tumbler before the actual tumbler is present. This draws the attention to the handkerchief, a less vigilant attention because the production has been accomplished apparently. During this interval the performer secures the real glass and brings it up under the folds of the handkerchief.
Even a bent arm frequently acts as a form to simulate the production of a bowl of water, the actual bowl meanwhile being taken from beneath the armpit.
But forms may be used for a variety of things besides those usually produced-books, small frying pans, plates, boxes, anything that may lend itself to effective concealment. And you are not limited to the body itself as a secret place of concealment.
Consider Steve Shepard's production of a large punch bowl. The bowl itself is on a stand. On top of the bowl is a round wood disc that is about the same diameter as the bowl. The "table" drape is attached to this disc, and, to the spectator, the stand looks like an ordinary draped one. All of this is quite similar to the usual large bowl production except that the stand is telescopic. The weight of the bowl of liquid pushes the real table top, also equipped with a duplicate drape, downwards a distance equal to the height of the bowl. If the filled bowl should be lifted from the table momentarily, the real top would spring up into place and lock itself in this position. Then the tabletop would support the weight of the bowl of liquid.
Of course, the appearance of the table, with top depressed and bowl "loaded" is the same as the aspect of the table after the bowl is removed, except that the real table top is somewhat less in diameter than the outside dimension of the bowl.
In operation, however, the magician pretends to catch the bowl beneath the foulard. His uplifted and curved left forearm simulates the bowl. The performer looks about him for a place to deposit the bowl. He sees the "table," which is loaded with the bowl, rushes to it and starts to put down the bowl. Meanwhile he lifts the real bowl from the table and holds it beneath the foulard. The magician seems to change his mind, looks about him for a better place but finally plunks down the bowl, water spilling and plopping on the floor pulling away the foulard.
Since the "loaded" table has the same appearance with or without the bowl, the use of the table for the necessary secret hiding place is valid.
This idea may be varied for the production of many other objects, even a small radio, or a clock, or a lunch box.
Another variation in the use of this idea is exemplified when a detachable or attachable portion of the object to be produced is revealed in lieu of the entire thing, after which the remainder of the object, constituting its major portion, is secured from a secret hiding place when the spectators' vigilance has been relaxed.
This principle has been used little as an appearance. The reverse of the old vanishing doll trick will illustrate: A small cloak is shown apparently empty. From a tiny pocket in this cloak, the performer produces the head of a small wooden doll. He sticks this head through the top opening in the cloak, as if the entire doll were there. Then, holding the cloaked doll in one hand, the performer inspects it, directing his talk and the spectators' attention to the doll. Meanwhile the other hand has unobtrusively secured the missing, and greater, portion of the doll from his clothing. When he brings this hand to the doll beneath the cloak, he slips the remainder of the body onto the head and removes the cloak, thus revealing the entire doll.
An illusion could arise from this idea. Suppose we were to enlarge the cloak so that it would touch the floor when worn by a human. Suppose there were a mask secreted within a convenient pocket. The mask is produced. The performer wrestles with his Frankenstein past a convenient screen or other place of concealment for a human accomplice. Of course, the assistant ducks under the cloak and sticks his head up into the mask. When the struggle takes the performer down to the footlights, the mask and cloak are pulled off.
Anything that has a top portion, which can be made attachable, may be produced if a suitable hiding place for the remainder of the object is available. Such things might be statuettes, bottles, dummy ducks, objects attached to ropes or ribbons or chains.
For repeated productions, there is yet a simpler stratagem used. During the act of revealing a previously secured object, such as a ball or an egg, the opposite hand secures another similar one from a secret supply. Then, when apparently depositing the first object into the opposite hand, the original object is retained and the duplicate is revealed in its place.
Somewhat similar to this is loading a new object in the act of taking away that produced. A familiar repeating cigar production illustrates this perfectly. One cigar is produced and placed in the opposite hand. But while the right is placing it in the left, the left hand is loading another, unseen, into the right.
There are probably nine hundred and seventy-five thousand ways this principle of secretly loading while attention is elsewhere might be disguised, cloaked, counterfeited or otherwise camouflaged. To attempt to give a complete list of the various ways in which this method has been utilized in the past, not to speak of the possible applications in the future, would be impossible.
And if you can't think of other things to use-I mean things that haven't been used before-you're wasting your time with this book. There are at least a million objects that have never been used with it. Get a Sears, Roebuck catalogue and check the items, new items, you see.
Now we reach the "hand-is-quicker-than-the-eye" school of production. Only the hand isn't involved in it at all. The hand isn't fast enough, as all of us very well know.
We might term this production method something like this:
Bringing the object into production position with great speed, or in such a manner that the eye cannot follow its course from its secret hiding place.
In general, there are three classes of mechanical pulls that may bring an object into sight from a remote hiding place. They bring it into sight with the requisite amount of speed. These are the pulled thread, the elastic pull and the spring pull. Other mechanical power applications-released counterweight, electric motor, steam engine-come under this heading, if the subject of the production is brought into position with the proper amount of speed.
In addition, there is the catapult that throws the object to production location.
The invisible thread jerks the object into view from its secret hiding place so swiftly that its flight cannot be seen.
The appearing handkerchief in the decanter is a good illustration. The handkerchief is concealed within a pocket in the table. Tied to the handkerchief is a strong thread. This leads down into the neck of the bottle, through a hole in the bottom or a side, and thence offstage to an assistant. Sometimes the thread is tied to a weight which can be released suddenly. A sudden swift jerk brings the handkerchief into sight within the decanter.
This could be converted into a new trick by substituting props other than those used in the original version. A milk bottle could be used instead of the conventional decanter. Or a whiskey bottle. Use a necktie in place of the handkerchief, or even a small collapsible snake. Or combine the milk bottle, alone, with any vanish of a flag, a handkerchief or a piece of silk wearing apparel-even a brassiere or a pair of panties.
New tricks have been "invented" with less evidence of originality than the substitution of the milk bottle for the decanter in this example.
The same principle of using the thread to pull an object into view is demonstrated in Orrin's Spider Web Trick .
Notice that the thread is still used but that the background of the web helps to conceal both the thread and the pocket from which the card slides. Another important difference is that the movement of the thread is accomplished indirectly by spinning the web .
That spider web trick is identical in basic principle to the old decanter trick. But Orrin substituted a card for the handkerchief. He substituted a disc decorated as a spider's web in place of the table. The thread remained. But instead of pulling the thread, he pulled the pocket away . This was made possible because of the distance the pocket moved in spinning around the shaft, as it wrapped the thread. For the decanter, of course, the figure of the spider was substituted. Moving the place of appearance rapidly took the place of moving the appearing object rapidly.
There is another important change Orrin made in the old trick. Instead of an assistant or a weight pulling the thread, the performer pulled it himself . But he applied the force in an indirect manner. He applied the force in spinning the web, a perfectly plausible and, therefore, a perfectly deceptive action.
I don't suppose Mr. Orrin consciously went through the various steps of deliberate substitution, working from the old decanter trick, as outlined here. But it could have been produced in that manner .
Consider the steps in outline form:
The objects are changed-a card for a handkerchief, a spider for a decanter.
The place of appearance was changed in character. The original location was inside a transparent object.
The source of power was changed. Originally it came from a concealed assistant. Here the performer himself applied the Power-indirectly.
Instead of moving the appearing object rapidly, Orrin moves the place of appearance rapidly.
Absence of a suitable background originally made it necessary to do the trick at a distance. Here, a background that made the thread invisible moved the trick much closer to the spectator.
It seems a far cry from the old decanter trick to this spider's web trick, but actually, as is evident here, they are very closely related.
We might try a similar invention right now, still using that decanter trick as the basis.
At random, we substitute a photograph for the handkerchief. This substitution suggests a frame in which it may appear. We must have a place in which to hide the picture prior to its appearance. A hollow back immediately comes to mind. The picture could be rolled up in one edge of the frame as well.
To meet modern conditions we might borrow the indirect method of applying the power to pull the thread. Spinning the frame, as Orrin spins the web, would do. The frame might be mounted, spinning around vertically. Or it might spin from back to front, horizontally, on a shaft extending from side to side. Of course, we could spin it as the web is turned.
The thread is attached to the picture. This is brought into view as the frame turns.
Some experiment might be necessary to determine the best hiding place. More experiment will determine the proper type of rotation. Other details, such as insuring that the picture will not be caught, construction to insure smooth passage, stiffness of the picture stock and other' matters will develop the best general plan.
But you do not necessarily have to spin the frame. You may, instead, merely secure a thread of the proper length to some convenient fastening-a chair or a piece of apparatus-and walk forward quickly, holding the frame in front of you with both hands. The picture will appear in a bewildering fashion.
Or go back to the milk bottle. Use that instead of a decanter. Put it on a turntable. Provide a method of fastening the bottle so it will not fly off. Then spin it. This could cause a handkerchief, a flag, even a flower to appear, pulled into view quickly from a pocket concealed within the turntable top.
The same principle has been applied to non-apparatus magic. The hands are substituted for the decanter. The space behind the vest takes the place of the pocket in the table. The thread still remains.
Secured to two corners of a large flag, the thread extends across the top. The flag is folded and tucked beneath the vest, leaving the thread extending across the body. In a flash the flag is produced merely by hooking the thumbs under the thread and extending the arms forward and apart. Properly done, the flag seems to appear suddenly between the two hands.
This may be used for a flash production of almost anything concealed beneath the vest, the coat or within a pocket. With one end of the thread attached to a firm foundation, just hooking one thumb beneath it and pushing forward suddenly will make it possible to produce a silk, a flower, or some small device with which you work.
Another application of the same principle is the use of the elastic cord instead of the thread.
This also, working like the thread, brings the object from a concealed hiding place. A familiar example is The Card Sword , or a similar device for producing a handkerchief. Here the elastic extends through the hollow blade and emerges at the tip. The cards or handkerchiefs are attached to the end of the elastic. The elastic is stretched out and brought down behind the blade so that the cards or silks may be concealed within a hiding place at the handle. When the elastic is released the production springs into view at the tip of the blade.
The principle is still the same as that in the decanter trick. Here are the familiar hiding place, the object to be produced, the location at which it is produced, and a means of bringing the object to its destination suddenly.
Basically, the only difference is that the performer applies the power before the performance . The energy is expended when he stretches the elastic. This power remains stored up for use until needed.
In the above variation the change is in the indirect application of the power prior to performance .
You need not use a sword. A broom, a long stick, a cane or anything supplying sufficient length of elastic to allow the object to be produced to reach its hiding place, and with sufficient "take-up" to bring the object to its place of appearance, will do. This principle has been used for years to bring a rose, concealed beneath the armpit, into the buttonhole. It could cause a necktie to appear-perhaps it has.
Why couldn't the stretched elastic, or even the thread, be used to bring a rope coil to the finger-tips? Then the performer could calmly proceed about this business of cutting and restoring this rope, as if magicians invariably obtained the rope to be used merely by reaching into the air for it.
Or the scissors?
Note the variety of power applications evident already. The force may be applied directly through an assistant or a pulling mechanism. Or it may be supplied indirectly by a mechanism which will conceal what you are really doing, like The Spider's Web . The power may be stored up and the actual pull may be applied before the performance and held for later release. You are not restricted to the use of elastic for this. A tension spring or a coiled spring reel will do the work as well, if adapted to the specific application.
The third class of device used for our present principle is the spring-operated lever. This is similar to the familiar mousetrap. The tension of the spring is such that its tendency is to bring the arm into a position reaching the place of production.
The object is secured to the lever. Power is applied to bend the lever to a position where the object is in its hiding place. It is held thus until time for production. Upon release this arm swings the object into position with great speed.
The Card in Balloon is an illustration. Here, at rest, the arm is in a position that would bring the card within the balloon. With the card affixed to the arm, the arm is turned back against the spring tension so that the card may be concealed within its hiding place in the base of the stand. When it is released, the arm swings around instantly, carrying the card to the balloon. The balloon breaks and the card appears in its place.
Other similar tricks are The Card on Candle, The Card in Flowers Vase and The Card Star .
This method is accomplished in yet another way. Here the power is applied through gravity, centrifugal force or other similar power. Usually some means of guiding the object is necessary.
The coin wand generally credited to the late T. Nelson Downs illustrates this admirably. The wand is not strictly a wand. It is a piece of heavy wire or light rod. A slot is cut in the outside end and the two sides of the cut are bent outwards in a slight "V." This, with the main body of the so-called wand, forms a ' 'Y." The result is that the extreme inch or so at the outside end is somewhat larger than the diameter of the wire.
A number of coins are prepared by soldering small rings to their centers, the planes of the rings being at right angles to the planes of the coins. These rings are just large enough to slide loosely up and down the length of the wand. But they are not large enough to slide past the expanded split.
Five or six of the prepared coins are threaded onto the wire wand at the narrow end. These are covered with the hand in grasping the wand. When the hand sweeps the wand in the air the coins are released one at a time. Centrifugal force causes the individual coin to slide up the wand and jam at the "V." When the performer forces this coin over the "V", the sides of the split spring in and allow the coin to pass. This is repeated until all the coins have appeared.
Of course, this principle may be applied to any long thin object such as sticks, canes, swords. And the objects to be produced are limited only by the size of the concealment space available.
Another variation of this idea is an appearing alarm clock stand. I mean the one where the clocks appear suddenly at the ends of lengths of ribbon. The clocks are concealed in the upper part of the frame. Behind each ribbon is a strong cord that is attached to the lower end of the ribbon at one end and to the frame, at the top, at the other. This cord runs through the top ring in the alarm clock.
When the clocks are released one by one they seem to become attached suddenly to the lower ends of their respective ribbons. Of course, they are guided into position by means of the hidden cord. Sometimes a second cord is included, designed to trip the bell silencer. This causes the clocks to start ringing at the instant they seem to appear at the ends of the ribbons.
Another similar application is used in the trick where a watch suddenly appears at the end of a chain. The chain is hanging from the vest. There is no watch attached to the lower end. At a gesture from the performer the watch suddenly appears at the end of this chain.
A black thread runs from the free end of the chain to a place beneath the vest. It runs through the ring at the top of a watch. The watch is tucked under the vest and held there by means of body pressure. When the performer desires the watch to appear he merely relaxes the pressure, and the watch falls into place. Of course, some type of automatic or mechanical release could be devised to hold the watch, thus eliminating the body pressure necessity.
Going back to the coin wand, instead of using the wand as a guide, we could, were it advisable, use the cord or thread guide principle as provided for the clock and watch. With this type of guide the article to be produced need not be concealed within the hand. It may be concealed in the clothing, or even in an adjacent piece of furniture. This would permit using larger objects.
Medium-sized objects could appear at the ends of brooms, parasols, golf clubs. Or a butterfly net could be used. Or even a tea or vegetable strainer. It would be possible to produce a carrot, say, in a pair of those tongs they use in the kitchen for removing vegetables from boiling water.
This could be used for delivering a deck of cards for production behind the knee. Instead of a watch appearing at the end of the chain, one could catch a toy fish. With the proper costume, this method could supply a means of producing a large bowl on the floor.
One need not be limited to having clocks appear on the ends of ribbons. Any large object could be used, provided its place of concealment would not be too obvious. It is not necessary to use four ribbons. Neither need ribbons be used at all. A rope or a chain or a pendulum might be more suitable.
Coins could be caused to appear in a glass tumbler. They could be guided from some nearby accessory like a stand, guided by means of an invisible thread. They could even slide down this thread from the wings.
A large metal pail could be hanging from a tripod. Space could be provided at the top of the tripod for the concealment of a coconut. A balloon full of water-I mean a rubber balloon could probably be guided into position to land in the pail. Upon impact it would break. Probably you would better have a lot of mops around if you experiment with this idea in the living room.
If you are capable of providing a logical and un-suspicious place of concealment, this is an easy way to "invent" a trick of your own. Merely substitute anything that comes to mind—cabbages, bottles, old automobile tires. Look out for it in producing humans-unless you have an unlimited supply of assistants. This principle without the refinements is the basis, you know, of one method of eliminating undesirable citizens.
We have still to discuss the catapult so clearly demonstrated in The Television Frame . Here a card is placed in position upon a spring built into a secret hiding place. In The Television Frame this hiding place is usually the base, although a similar device has been built to be concealed within the hand. Two sheets of glass are held a slight distance apart at one edge. The spring is so placed that when released it will hurl the card through this opening edgeways at great speed. The narrowing space between the plates ultimately stops the card's flight. Thus, with a pair of rubber band encircled plates held in the hand, or supported upon a stand, the card or cards seem to appear suddenly between the two glass sheets.
Another method of bringing an object into view quickly is the use of a revolving panel. The appearance of a ringing alarm clock, familiar to dealers' catalogues for years, is an excellent illustration. The appearance is accomplished through a quick half revolution of a panel in the background within a frame. Where attention is directed upon the place of production, this method has seemed somewhat obvious to me. But as used in connection with the vanishing alarm clock, it was effective for the reason that the spectators' attention was not on the place of appearance. Rather, they were watching the vanish. The ringing of the duplicate clock, the instant of the reappearance, brought the attention to that phase of the trick.
This revolving panel feature has been used with humans.
Naturally, the idea of a quick appearance is not limited to the use of a revolving panel. Two containers, properly rigged, which can be moved simultaneously with great speed, the one containing the object to be produced taking the place of the empty one, are just as effective in combination.
Other objects may be substituted for the clock, of course.
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