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The
TRICK
BRAIN
CHAPTER SEVEN
The vanish, of course, is simply the reverse of an appearance or production. As with the appearance effect, it may be accomplished with an object, a person or a thing. To the spectator, the performer seems to have caused the subject of the effect to cease to exist.
As was emphasized under the reciprocal division, the dematerialization may be gradual or instantaneous. It may take place uncovered and in full view, or within or beneath or behind something, concealed from view.
Since it is impossible to cause anything to vanish actually, in reality the subject must be hidden in some manner. It must be hidden in a secret place at the location where the vanish occurs. Or it must be secretly conveyed away from the place of vanish and disposed of in a hiding place at some other location.
Practically all of the methods enumerated under the list of principles for accomplishing appearances, reversed, may be employed for the present effect. This furnishes the nucleus for the discussion of methods following. You may find some of the principles to be re stated in somewhat different language so as to cover their application to this division more substantially.
Informed readers will have recognized that many of the methods already covered in the appearance division are more frequently used in their reversed application as disappearances. The Opposite will be discovered in some cases under this division. The natures of some of the principles make them more readily adaptable to one effect than the other.
Where one has a choice of the many circumstances in connection with the final trick—conditions, the object used, the character of the final effect desired, and many other factors will influence method that is ultimately selected. After the essential factors have been met, if there is still a choice of method to make, probably that sup plying the most simple and direct ultimate result, with the least complication, will be found best.
This viewpoint has been valid for years in connection with me chanics. There is no reason why it should not hold true in this con nection, in my opinion.
We may start with the disposal of the object secretly, while it is apparently elsewhere being vanished. The billiard ball production previously discussed, reversed, and supplies an excellent example. The ball is taken in the right hand, apparently. Actually it remains in the left. As the right moves away, all attention being directed to it, the left surreptitiously disposes of the ball in a secret hiding place.
Theoretically, the reverse of the glass production discussed before, should prove effective as a vanish. But it won't. This is because the production had the advantage of surprise, with the necessary moves taking place before the spectators knew the effect. But, using the reversed routine as a vanish cannot be made effective because all of the moves take place after the trick is done, with little possibility of shaking off the watchers' scrutiny.
If, however, we add the use of a form, it might be possible to accomplish a vanish through a slight modification. Suppose the handkerchief were equipped with a ring fake. Suppose it were even equipped with a ring form built so that this wire circle which simulates the top rim of the glass could be held at a fixed height above the palm of the hand, giving the appearance of the glass resting upon the hand.
Now we try the moves: The handkerchief is thrown over the stem wineglass that is resting upon the palm of the right hand. It is thrown over in such a manner that the ring form coincides with the rim of the glass. Under cover of the foulard, the fingers of the right come up around the base of the glass, the stem being between the second and third fingers. Grasping the ring form through the folds of the cloth, the performer apparently lifts the goblet from the right hand. Immediately the right hand opens, carrying the goblet around beneath the hand to a position somewhat similar to the back palm, in a movement the exact reverse of that used for the pro duction. All this, of course, is concealed beneath the folds of the foulard.
The left hand again apparently lowers the goblet to the palm of the hand, but really the ring form is supported on the framework previously provided with it. With the left side of the body towards the audience, the performer picks up the "glass" and as he does so, the right, with the real glass, moves behind the drape, to the left, drops the goblet into a body servante, which has been installed between the coat and vest on the left side, moves on up over the left forearm, grasps the front corner of the foulard and shakes it out. The glass has apparently vanished.
This makes it possible to do the necessary moves before the spectator realizes that the vanish has been accomplished.
We discussed the use of this form in connection with this basic principle during our consideration of its application to appearances. It has been applied to vanishes which have included bird cages, large dice, alarm clocks, radios and many other objects.
So also has been used the detachable portion of an object. This detachable portion, whether it is the bead of a doll as in the old Bonus Genus or the tip of a "pillar" as in the P. & L. Solomon's Pillar trick, simulates the presence of the entire object to the spec tator. Meanwhile, the performer has been disposing of the major portion of the object in some secret hiding place. Finally, his ultimate vanish of the small portion presents considerably less difficulty of accomplishment. In the vanishing doll trick the detached head is secreted in a small pocket in the cloak used. With the vanishing pillar, the flesh—colored rounded metal top is pushed over the end of the forefinger, a la the fingertip. Presumably, equally effective methods of disposal are available for almost any small portion of an object, if the inventor gives the problem sufficient thought.
In some manner, almost every one of the appearance methods in this classification may be reversed for vanishes, even the reverse of the repeated production of a cigar.
As bringing it into position at great speed may produce an object, so also may it be vanished by taking it away in a similar manner.
The Flying Bird Cage, a combination of a collapsible cage and some type of pull, has been a featured example used by many performers.
The pull is made of heavy catgut. It goes up the right sleeve usually. Thence it goes across the shoulders and down the left sleeve. Its end terminates at a strap around the left wrist. By spreading the elbows apart the end affixed to the cage rises in the right sleeve. This is caused by the difference in the distance from wrist to wrist when the elbows are held away from the body.
Of course, the cage, collapsed, follows the cord.
Because the wrist and the sleeve cover the cord, it can be made sufficiently heavy to withstand the tensile pull.
One of the difficulties of this trick has been the necessity of making the cord sufficiently short to take the cage completely out of sight. When it is of the proper length it is difficult to attach the cage. Clarence Slyter has made a decided improvement.
Slyter uses the arm pull. But he has a spring heavy reel attached to the strap on his left wrist. Before he is ready for the vanish the cord is sufficiently long to be easily attached to the cage. When the cage is in his hands he spreads his arms sufficiently to release the catch on the reel. This takes up the excess cord until it is sufficiently short to make the vanish in the usual way. A catch on the cord itself, entering the reel, prevents the cord from being pulled out under the force of the vanish.
There are reels made which have sufficient strength to pull the cage into the sleeve or beneath the clothing when released.
Collapsible cages are discussed under another principle.
We cannot overlook the elastic pull used to vanish a handkerchief. This is a pear shaped container used with a length of cord elastic. When the handkerchief is stuffed into the container it may be caused to vanish by merely releasing the container. The elastic pulls it out of sight.
The elastic pull has been used for vanishing coins, decks of cards, color—change reels, watches, pencils, wooden cigars, cigarette fakes, balls, eggs. Frequently you will find the rubber attached to some queer-looking thing that acts as a holder of the object to be vanished. But the vanish depends upon the pulling power in the stretched elastic as anyone can verify who has ever stood in front of an audience and discovered that age has at last caught up with the elasticity.
A variation of the cord pull has been used for The Chimney Vanish. The handkerchief is hooked into a loop of catgut, as it is stuffed into the cylinder. The cylinder is held between the palms. The handkerchief is plainly visible through the glass. One moment it is there. The next, it is gone.
A spring reel, sometimes called a Flash Pull, has been utilized for this trick. The reel has a strong spring. The cord may be pulled out to the required distance. The performer presses a catch on the reel. This holds the cord in position until ready. A slight tug on the cord releases the catch. The tension of the spring then tends to pull in the cord. When you release the object it goes in a flash.
The conventional square cage is not the only object that has been vanished by means of a pull in the sleeve. There have been round cages, lamps and other large objects, all collapsible, which have gone up the sleeve powered by the arm pull.
The exact reverse of the old decanter trick, the spider web and many other appearances can be made to apply to similar vanishes. So may be reversed also adaptations of the several gravity applications, or the revolving panel.
Evanishment may be achieved by placing the object into a secret compartment. This object may be solid or collapsible. The hiding place may be in or near the container or place at which the object is deposited.
Here is the sleeve into which the birdcage disappears. Here also is the secret compartment in the egg bag. The well or trap into which the object falls comes within this category. How often this secret compartment has been used in illusion work!
The hiding place may be built into double sides, or beneath false bottoms, or in any of the manners utilized under appearances. It may tip in and out, or revolve, on a secret panel. It may be created by the reflection of one side in a mirror. Or it may be within some unsuspicious accessory.
The vanishing handkerchief wand illustrates this type. The wand is hollow. A center plunger is deposited from the wand into a cone made of paper. A handkerchief is laid over the mouth of the cone and is pushed inside with the wand. The plunger actually pushes the handkerchief into the wand, as the latter seems to push it into the cornucopia. A fountain pen, or an automatic pencil, may be so used with objects of the proper size. The finger tip or thumb tip has functioned in this manner.
The principle of the two compartments, either of which may become secret, as explained before, is applicable here Look over the applications as discussed in the sections devoted to appearances.
A shell object, into which one or any number of objects may fit, supplies a secret compartment. The Dime and Penny Trick, wherein the dime is eventually hidden within the shell penny, is a modern adaptation of a more complex transposition trick which Professor Hoffman called The Coins and the Two Brass Covers.
The vanishing routine employed with The Multiplying Billiard Balls in some versions utilizes this idea.
Very much used as a method of evanishment is the utilization of a collapsible object. Sometimes the object itself is collapsible. But frequently a collapsible duplicate is substituted for a solid original. Naturally, the object finally seen is collapsed into small space and concealed in some secret place.
Carl Lohrey some years ago developed a glass vanish along these lines. The glass was a small one—a highball glass—with tapering sides. Inside the glass was a light celluloid shell. The glass was shown solid, after which it was slipped off of the shell secretly. A silk that was placed in the glass really went into the shell and was still visible.
The shell glass and its silk were dropped into a paper bag. The performer simply crushed the shell and the bag.
Few magicians are unacquainted with The Vanishing Wand. There are three well-known methods—all dependent upon the collapsible principle. In one case the wand has solid tips but the bulk of it is a paper shell. Another method has a thin paper shell representing the entire wand. The solid wand is spirited from within the shell and the shell only is placed in a long narrow envelope. In the third method the wand is solid but made up of a number of short lengths held together with short pieces of match stick.
The vanish in all three of the above methods is accomplished by crumpling the paper covering.
One vanishing alarm clock method employed this principle. The clock in this case was merely a light pasteboard shell. A collapsible shell—even a radio—may duplicate almost any object you can think of.
Of course, there is no necessity for substituting a collapsible duplicate of the original object. Many of the original objects are collapsible in themselves. The birdcage is an example.
How this quality of collapsibility is accomplished is important. In the case of the wand two of the methods use a shell made of paper. This may be crumpled. The other method has the object itself made in sections.
The birdcage folds in two directions. Some of these cages are entirely flexible and fold in any direction. Others are rigid in all directions except the essential two.
Some of the methods of showing the flexible cage to be rigid are ingenious. One method has a supporting frame made of black wire. The cage actually hangs from this frame. One builder has devised a method of attaching short lengths of metal tubing at each of the four lower corners of the cage. Pins coming up from the base hold the cage rigid until it is removed.
The vanishing cane is made of a continuous strip of metal coiled. Pulling the metal from the center and twisting it tightly forms the cane. The long cane may be pushed into small space when released.
It is interesting to note that Russ Walsh's Cane to Silk is identical to the old vanishing cane in basic principle. With the addition of the silk Walsh converted the trick from a vanish to a transposition. But it may be used as a vanish.
The trick was not particularly popular of recent years in its older form. This was because the coiled metal did not collapse tightly. The performer had to hold it together. Walsh simply had the metal tempered to close tightly. This made considerable difference in the performing conditions, with the result that Walsh's version became a sensation. Of such stuff is invention made.
Using the principle of collapsibility many things have been made to seem to vanish. There have been shell radios that could be crushed as the shell wand is crushed. Other radios have been built to collapse into a table or other accessory, while a form, built into a covering cloth, has simulated the presence of the radio until the magician has chosen to cause it to disappear.
Conradi developed a trick where four bowls and a skeleton stand were vanished from beneath a foulard. Actually the bowls and stand collapsed into a tabletop. A form, of course, simulated the shape of the stand and bowls until the performer was ready.
A vanish may also be accomplished by covering the object with a cover which matches the background. This supplies another principle.
This principle has been thoroughly discussed as an Appearance. Reversed, the discussions will apply to vanishes.
Here we have the flash blind, the flap, the iris, the back of the object covered with a material to match the background, some of the flesh-colored fakes and the slat principle.
I would supplement what has been said before with a few examples of applications to this effect.
The first that comes to mind is the Vanishing Bathing Beauty as performed by Chris Charlton. The assistant takes her place in a small bathhouse. The bathhouse is hoisted in the air. Without covering, the bathhouse falls apart in midair. The assistant has vanished.
This illusion is extremely effective. But the secret is simple. The background used is black. A roller spring simply jerks a black covering in front of the assistant at blinding speed. Properly lighted, the effect is perfect.
The card box flap causes a card to vanish. The slate flap, added to the slate, can cover a picture. Or the picture, drawn on the flap, can be caused to vanish by removing the flap.
This principle applies to some of the flesh-covered fakes such as finger and thumb tips. The object to be vanished is covered with a covering matching the background. I have already referred to The Fadeaway Card Trick.
Charles Waller applied the sliding slat principle ingeniously for a vanish. The trick is known as The Chest of Chu Chin Chow. A small chest is shown. The chest has a glass front showing between several slats. It is filled with rice. It is taken in the hands and suddenly the rice vanishes in full view.
The sliding sections behind the slats have rice glued to them to represent the box filled with rice. At the beginning the opening through the glass is clear. The performer fills the box with rice. After it is filled the secret slats slide sideways. This covers the real rice but the box appears to be filled. The actual supply is released and drops into the tray.
After the performer has picked up the box he allows the secret slat frame to slide to one side suddenly. The rice appears to vanish.
Similar frames constructed to hold jumbo cards have been used for similar vanishes.
There is still plenty of room for further applications of the principle. It could be used for solid blocks of wood, photographs of crooks in jail—the slat idea lends itself admirably to the jail idea.
Many livestock vanishes have used variations of this slat principle. In this case the slats represent the bars of the cage. The secret slat frame matches the background. To vanish the livestock the secret slats are simply slid over the openings, thus concealing the livestock from view.
The same principle has been applied to vanishes of humans.
Thurston even vanished an automobile in this manner.
Sometimes the background principle is applied indirectly. Such an application appears in THE TARBELL COURSE. Here a skeleton frame is shown and placed in front of a black background. The performer or his assistant stands on this frame and a screen is placed in front of him. When the screen is removed the person has vanished.
What actually happens is that the openings in the skeleton frame may be closed by means of material matching the background. This supplies a covering for the vanish.
The principle has been used to afford a secret passageway. For example a light fence against a dark background could supply a method of covering between the slats or pickets at the proper time.
This background principle is the secret of one method of vanishing a girl while she climbs a stepladder. The ladder is erected facing the audience. The girl climbs up from the back. At the proper moment a covering to match the background falls in front of the girl. She vanishes.
Blinding lights will assist in causing a covering to blend with a background. The Black Art Act is a familiar demonstration of this fact. Both the appearance and disappearance of people and things are entirely dependent upon the black art principle. With a frame of light glaring into the spectators' eyes, and with a background of black, it becomes impossible to distinguish varying shades of black. So, if a deep black cover is thrown over the object to vanish, this cover blends with the black background and becomes invisible. Any thing covered in this manner seems to disappear. The objects used in this manner are usually light in color so as to be clearly visible when uncovered.
Another method under this division is the spiriting away of the object while it is hidden behind or within some covering or accessory.
Probably every magician has employed this principle at some time or other. Since one example is as good as another the so-called Demon Glass will do to illustrate. The glass is a tumbler. Within it is a celluloid shell. Accompanying it is a cylindrical cover just a little higher than the glass. The object to be vanished is placed apparently in the glass. It actually goes into the shell. The cover is placed over the glass. In taking the cover away the forefinger nips the shell from within the tumbler and carries it and the vanished object away, concealed within the cylinder.
Glass cylinders used with balls, silk, milk and other objects have been in use similarly for years.
The conventional method of performing The Vanishing Alarm Clock employs this principle to dispose of the clock when it is carried away behind the tray. One method of performing The Vanishing Bowl of Water is similar. Of course, the use of the form to simulate the object is a different principle, making both of these tricks dependent upon combinations of principles.
A trick in which water is poured into a paper cone, the cone being burned later, employs this principle. A celluloid container smuggled into the cone is carried away behind the water pitcher.
Many livestock vanishes are dependent upon this principle. The Chinese Bird Chest is particularly ingenious. The box breaks apart in the usual manner. But the top has a door in the center. The box is loaded through this door and when the performer starts to show the box empty he throws the door open, it falling forward away from the performer and towards the audience. He grasps the outside frame of the top at the back and lifts it up and brings it forward. The load is in a container attached to this outside frame, but it swings down behind the open door. The performer looks through the open door frame from behind, at the audience. Then he disposes of the top.
This principle is illustrated every time we palm off a packet of cards in doing The Cards to the Pocket. Here a carefully handled hand is the unsuspicious accessory. But it may be just the reverse.
Many performers have applied this principle when a palmed ball is conveyed away and secretly dropped into a trap or a servante in the act of apparently picking up another object.
Chemical means may also be employed for certain types of vanishes.
All chemical effects, whether under this or some other effect, require specialized knowledge. The formulas are so numerous and so varied that any suggestions here would be superfluous, particularly in view of the extensive treatment the subject has received in other publications.
However, there is a formula that will serve as an illustration here. If a name or a word is written on paper with a solution of cobalt chloride, after heating it sufficiently it will appear blue. This application is an appearance, of course. But afterwards, if the paper is held in the closed hand, and if the magician blows into the opening between the thumb and forefinger, the writing will disappear.
The above could be used with a force. The forced name or word could appear on a blank paper that has been deposited in a container that may be heated secretly. The word might be forced, as example, by using T. Page Wright's Supreme Test or Collins' Transcendental Book Test. Then the word might disappear while the paper is held in the performer's own hands.
This is one of the few vanishes, as such in chemical magic of which I am aware. Investigation may develop many others. Or combinations of chemical color changes may be combined with other principles, as discussed under the corresponding section devoted to appearances.
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