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The CHAPTER NINE
When it is realized that a transposition effect is simply the vanish of something at one place and its reappearance at another location, the fundamental methods of accomplishing it are almost obvious.
If we desire to give the appearance of an object being mysteriously transposed from one place to another, there are only two possible courses. Two apparently identical objects are used, the first being vanished and the second being caused to appear. Or the subject itself is secretly conveyed from one place to the other.
Transpositions are, in fact, usually simply combinations of the two effects we have already thoroughly discussed. It is essential that the two or more necessary portions of the effect each take place at a different location.
Where one object seems to leave one location and appears to travel invisibly and mysteriously to another place, you have a simple transposition. Where two different objects are each in two different locations and they seem to trade places in some unexplainable manner, each with the other, you have a compound transposition. This is true, also, if more than two things exchange places.
As is the case with vanishes and appearances, these effects may take place out in the open and uncovered, or beneath or within or behind something. Things, people or animals may be involved in any type of assortment. The effect may take place instantaneously or gradually.
I choose to interpret the trick of multi-position, where an object is shown to be in several places at once, as one of rapid transposition. This is because the object is shown to be in several places successively , rather than simultaneously—no matter how rapid the succession of revelations. Some time—however short—must elapse, as it is impossible to show the object to be in several places at once. Otherwise the result would be multiple objects.
Now let's try to find a familiar example of a transposition being accomplished through the use of secret hiding places, both at the place of disappearance and at the location of the reappearance.
We could do worse than select The Vanishing Alarm Clock . In the conventional apparatus the items used are an alarm clock equipped with a clip at its base, a foulard into which is built a form to simulate the clock, a tray with flat band made to secure the clock to the bottom of the tray, and a slender metal stand with an automatic ringing mechanism in the base.
With this vanishing alarm clock we shall combine The Reappearing Alarm Clock , using the conventional method. This is simply a large frame on a pedestal. The background within the frame is black. It is equipped with a revolving panel, which when released, will make a swift half—turn, bringing the rear of the panel, covered with similar material, to the front. The duplicate clock is affixed to the rear of the panel. The device is also equipped with a ringing mechanism which will simulate the ringing of the alarm clock when the panel with the clock attached is in appearing position, facing the audience.
While on the subject of duplicates it might be mentioned that most, but not all, transpositions employ the use of duplicate objects.
The first principle under both vanish and appearance is the taking from or putting into a secret hiding place while attention is directed elsewhere. Now how can these conditions be met with the combined alarm clock tricks?
In performing the vanishing alarm clock trick, the clock is placed on the tray. In being placed upon the tray the clip in the bottom of the clock is engaged into the fiat band on the tray. This permits the tray to be tilted, while the clock is attached to it, without the clock falling.
After the clock is placed on the tray it is covered with the foulard. Then, apparently taking the clock from the tray, still covered, it is hung, covered, upon the stand. In the meantime, the form built into the foulard has simulated the clock. But in the act of lifting the foulard from the tray, the latter is tilted backward away from the audience. The clock, of course, is clinging to the tray and is concealed behind it. Here the tray becomes the secret hiding place.
In the conventional method an assistant carries the tray away. Or it may be stood on edge, leaning against something.
In a special version I evolved, I used a trap-top table. It was arranged in such a way that it would open to receive the clock as I laid the tray face down upon the table. Later the clock could be released and would fall into the trap, the door closing behind it. This permitted the tray to be picked up afterwards.
However, we have disposed of the clock in a secret hiding place while attention was directed elsewhere. The attention, in this case is directed at the apparent clock hanging beneath the foulard, from the hook of the stand.
The ringing mechanism in the stand is started. The magician whisks the foulard from the stand. The ringing stops as though the clock had vanished in midair.
A split second later the ringing is heard coming from the stand at the opposite side of the stage. The clock has apparently flown there invisibly.
Actually, while attention was on the vanish, the panel in the reappearing stand revolved, bringing the duplicate from its secret siding place. Thus all conditions, both for the vanish and the appearance, have been met. Both effects were accomplished by utilizing the secret hiding place while attention was directed elsewhere. I am aware that the clock vanish might also be called conveying behind an accessory. But until the tray is moved the clock is simply hidden behind it. Thus the tray is a simple hiding place unless we include the movement to the ultimate hiding place.
But let's give some general attention to transpositions and their methods without too much emphasis upon the distinctions between the various basic principles.
The Jumping Peg and Paddle trick is certainly a transposition. It is accomplished by changing the proximate surroundings without moving the object. This gives the appearance of a transposition without any movement having taken place at all. Of course, the method of changing the nearby surroundings is accomplished through already familiar expedients. (One of two compartments, either of which may become secret.)
A secret exchange of containers is utilized for one Twentieth Century method. Two handkerchiefs are tied together and rolled up, after which they are placed in a small whiskey glass. Later this whiskey glass is exchanged for a duplicate glass containing a duplicate set of handkerchiefs, between which has been tied the usual duplicate flag. The original vanish of the flag may be accomplished through several of the methods noted. Particularly, in this case, vanishes through pure sleight-of-hand, the finger tip, the pull and others of similar ilk are suitable.
We encounter the flap principle under this classification when The Card Frame is utilized as a transposition. The swinging or sliding flap, also, is utilized to carry the identity of the opposite object. This is adapted especially for cards when it is desired to transpose their identities, as, for example, a Nine of Hearts and a Queen of Spades changing places. Specific instances are Find the Queen , in both the card and cube versions.
But the flap isn't necessary. Any method of changing the identities of the objects used, even to having a card printed with one face on one side and another on the other, will do under the proper conditions.
Other expedients such as the iris may be utilized in special cases. The Menetehel Pack illustrates a much-used idea. Here a duplicate in a new location is revealed as the original. And in this case particularly the performer seldom bothers to reveal that the original is gone. However, when a card is selected from such a pack, the original may be destroyed or vanished prior to the revelation of the duplicate.
Employed in the transposition of a marked egg from a tumbler to the hand, or vice versa, the bottomless glass supplies an example of the secret passageway principle being applied to a transposition effect. Of course, the secret passageway is the unsuspected absence of the glass bottom.
But there are many other indirect applications of this method. A trick that Tom Sellers developed from a Chinese string rack called The Passe-Passe Ribbons , is an illustration. Two ribbons, say one black and one white, are mounted at either end of two lengths of bamboo. Sliding up and down on the ribbons, between the two sticks between which the ribbons are stretched, is a third length of bamboo. Holding the device suspended from one hand, the black ribbon is at the left with the white, naturally, on the right. The sliding section of bamboo is at the bottom. By sliding this stick to the top, the black seems to move to the right side whereas the white moves to the left. Actually, the sliding length of bamboo is hollow. The black ribbon is secured to the top stick on the left side. It enters the sliding section through a hole on the left side, crosses to the right side within the hollow section of the stick and emerges on the right side from whence it drops to a fastening on the right side of the bottom stick. The white ribbon traverses an opposite course. Thus, with the sliding stick down, the black ribbon is at the left. When the sliding section is lifted, the black is on the right. Obviously, the sliding section supplies a secret passageway.
The Passe-Passe Bottle and Glass trick, a compound transposition, employs duplicate shell bottles and goblets or tumblers which will fit within the shells. The nested bottle shells, fitting over and concealing a duplicate glass, pass for the original bottle. In the act of showing that the covering cylinders fit the bottle, or through some other stratagem, one of the shell bottles—the outside one—is stolen within one cylinder. This cylinder is used to cover the original glass. After the shell has been stolen, all that is necessary to do is to release the first shell, thus concealing the original glass, allowing the shell to be seen as the bottle. When the other cylinder is picked up the second shell is carried away with it, revealing the duplicate glass. Thus, they seem to have changed places.
But the incidental features, refining this trick, reveal strikingly the nature of true invention.
The hole in the back of the shells, allowing the magician's finger to hold the glass beneath the shell bottle when it is picked up, was probably the first refinement. Originally, and I had such a set, the bottle could not be picked up in front of the audience.
Then someone added a partition just beneath the neck of the innermost shell. This allowed wine or other liquid to be poured from the bottle. But, as yet, the transposition couldn't be accomplished with liquid in the tumbler. This was because a corresponding amount of liquid, which would be necessary in the duplicate tumbler, would overflow and come out the bottom of the shell bottle, when the liquid was poured into the original glass.
Someone got around this difficulty by building the innermost bottle in such a manner that the magician would apparently pour half a glass of liquid back in the bottle. Really, a separate pipe into which it was poured led through the bottom in the liquid container and into the glass below.
At length the more improved version was evolved. This retained the original liquid compartment. But in addition there was a short length of tubing inserted in the bottom. In the mouth of this tube was a small cork. A wire plunger led from the cork to just inside the mouth of the inner shell. By pushing this plunger, the liquid in the container would run into the duplicate glass. In use, exactly double the amount of liquid to be poured into the original glass was placed in the container. The proper amount was poured into the visible glass. When the bottle was replaced on the table, the plunger was pushed and a similar amount flowed into the concealed duplicate.
As in most well developed methods, many basic principles are involved in the final refined transposition. Here we may recognize the use of shells, the use of duplicates, the use of the stratagem of carrying away an object beneath a container, the use of disguise—when we disguise the reason for covering the nested shells with the cylinders—and several others, employed in varying ways and for devious necessary complications.
That is why it is almost impossible to classify any single trick into any single method classification. Complication of principles, particularly with mechanical magic, seems to complicate solution of method.
The Die Box Trick employs the use of a shell in a different manner. The die originally seen consists of the solid die and a four-sided shell matching it. The problem, of course, is to cause the die to pass apparently from the die box into a hat. Since the hat is usually shown empty in the beginning, it is necessary to develop a method for loading the duplicate. So the nested die and shell are shown as one. Using a suitable pretext the die is placed in the hat momentarily. Afterwards the die is left behind and the shell is brought out.
While the exact method of evanishment may be varied, although in The Die Box Trick the general procedure is quite fixed, the transposition feature is possible only through loading the die while disguising the action as something else. Here the duplicate is concealed within the shell and is conveyed to the hat while concealed within the shell.
This effect may be accomplished, as is apparent, by any other combinations of principles that will lend themselves to the objects used. Exactly the same general effect may be accomplished by utilizing the secret compartment principle applied to both the die box and the hat. Into the hat could be put a false top that would provide a secret compartment sufficient in size to hide the duplicate die. And the die box could be altered somewhat in shape and size to provide a secret compartment into which the original die might be concealed. Or both dice might be collapsible. Or the vanish might be accomplished by means of some type of pull, which would carry the die away. And the appearance in the hat might be made possible through loading the hat under cover of a handkerchief that might be spread over it, or any other combination of basic principles.
Or another performer might prefer to utilize the exact basic principles, but instead of the die—as a random example—he might use a package of cigarettes, or a pack of cards. Either may be utilized with the die box idea, exactly.
Wright and Larsen developed a pocket trick that used the shell for a transposition effect, but in a different way. The trick is called Button Button . The performer shows a card upon which are sewn three black buttons. In his hands, he holds a red button. He causes the middle black button to leave the card and appear in his bands, while the red button is found affixed to the cards between the two black buttons.
Originally, a shell representing a black button is covering a red button that is sewn to the card between the two black buttons. The card thus appears to have three black buttons. In turning the card back towards audience, the performer allows the black shell to fall into his hand. He slips the black shell over the red button he holds. The red button in his hands thus seems to have changed to a black one. Of course, when the card is turned towards the audience the middle button is seen to be red.
The Pea and Shell Game very clearly illustrates the application of conveying the article to be changed from one location to another, conveying it within or behind something. In the act of sliding the shells about the pea is stolen from beneath the shell under which it was originally placed. It is conveyed, concealed by the fingers, to the shell under which the performer desires it to be seen. Many Cups and Balls moves are similar.
Using the same principles but utilizing different objects could evolve an entirely new trick. White sponge rubber squares could be called "cubes of sugar" and handle-less Chinese teacups could be used in place of the shells or the conventional cups.
As in the case of the die box trick, other principles of appearance and evanishment could be applied to achieve exactly the same effect.
Petrie-Lewis Manufacturing Company makes a wand called The Vanishing and Reproducing Wand . By means of it the magician may accomplish the transposition of a silk handkerchief from one paper cone to another. The wand is used to assist in the formation of the two cones. In forming the first cone, a center rod that comes from the inside of the hollow wand is dropped into the cone. The handkerchief is spread over the mouth of the cone. Then it is pushed within by means of the wand. But the wand really goes over the center rod. And the handkerchief is pushed within the wand.
Then, in forming the second cone, the wand is turned end for end and is again used to make it. The magician clips a removable tip of the wand through the paper. This brings the handkerchief from the wand into the paper cone. Thus the transposition is accomplished.
Exactly the same effect may be achieved by employing the principle of the secret compartment instead of the method of conveying within an accessory. Two double paper cones could be used, each with a secret pocket, with duplicate handkerchiefs.
In The Three Card Monte Trick the transposition is made possible by apparently placing the object to be changed in one location while it seems to have been placed in another. This is made possible by the move, well-known by most magicians, by means of which another card, instead of the indicated one, is placed in one place while the principal card is actually put in the location to which it seems to change.
A trick employing three each of red, white and blue balls—nine balls in all—which seem to change places, also is accomplished similarly. It has been known under various aliases such as The Patriotic Balls . It is explained, adapted to paper balls, as The Patriotic Paper Balls , in THE TARBELL COURSE .
As a matter of fact, as we explore the methods for accomplishing transpositions we realize that potential solutions of technical difficulties lie within the basic principles already discussed. Means for accomplishing the deceptions may be evolved by any suitable combinations of the basic stratagems—one for the initial vanish and the other for the ultimate appearance. After that it is merely a matter of adapting the object or objects used, if they are adaptable. Or of finding a principle which will allow the desired objects to be used. Or of combining principles.
Possibilities may lie in such an expedient as disguising the first shown object to appear as the second, thus giving the performer an opportunity to move the first to the desired location, after which its disguise is removed. Suppose, as example, two colored cubes were to be used, a red one and a white. Two derby hats also are needed. To start, the performer takes the two cubes from one of the hats. He shows them and replaces them. However, one of the cubes has a flap at one corner that will swing clear around. The reverse side of the flap and the side nearest that it lies to are both painted white. In repose, this flap rests normally against one side. When the flap is in its normal position, all sides of one cube are red.
But when the flap is turned, two of the adjacent sides are white. Thus, when this cube is held cornerwise towards the audience it appears to be white. The ordinary cube is white.
With the flap at rest, both cubes are shown—one white and one red. Both are replaced in the hat. The flap on the red cube is turned and it is brought out and shown as the white One. This is placed in the other hat. When released, the flap returns to its normal position and the cube once more appears red. Ultimately, this cube is shown to be red, whereas the one in the first hat is shown to be white. Apparently a transposition took place.
This may be used for a transposition of cards. Or in somewhat altered design, this basic idea may be used for the transposition of two packs of cigarettes.
It is possible to use the same principle as an illusion, using two people, in which case probably the costume would be the best method of identification.
The exact opposite of this principle could be used also.
An excellent transposition method is supplied in the use of a duplicate of the original object, masquerading as the original, until the original is moved to the new location, after which the duplicate is vanished. Of course, the original is then revealed as having passed to the new location.
Suppose a girl was to be wrapped in a sheet, after which she should apparently vanish and reappear at the back of the theater. Applying the previous principle, a form made of thin black wire might be used as the duplicate. This form, lying on the floor just in front of a black backdrop, is lifted as the sheet is stretched in front of the girl. Meanwhile the girl, masked by the sheet, quickly steps through a trap in the backdrop or through the center entrance. The form is wrapped within the sheet. The girl makes her way to the rear of the theater. At the proper time the magician unwraps the form.
An "invisible man" effect could be secured by illuminating the stage in such a manner that the black wire form is invisible against the backdrop. Or the sheet may be jerked from the form suddenly, the form itself falling to the floor.
Of course, the girl immediately calls out at the rear of the theater and comes running down the aisle.
Certainly we have seen this principle utilized as a vanish method. But all supplementary details, such as the girl's getaway and the necessary time delay, are peculiarly adapted to this transposition.
We may use the same method for the transposition of a marked card. The card is selected and laid face up on a face up deck while the spectator's signature is being written on it. By means of the double lift, two cards are picked up as one. The deck is reversed and the apparent single card is placed face down upon the back of the deck. This puts the selected card second from the top. The top card, not the selected card, is taken from the deck without showing the face. It is placed at some distance, in plain view, back towards audience.
This could also be done by means of a second deal move.
After the duplicate card is removed, the performer palms off the original card and places it within a wallet in the act of taking the latter from his pocket. From here on it is merely a matter of disposing of the duplicate card in some way. It may be burned or otherwise destroyed. Or it may be caused to vanish by any suitable method, mechanical or sleight-of-hand.
Here it is clearly evident that the individual tricks, while dependent upon identical method, seem entirely different just because different objects are used. It is also evident that these principles are applicable to people, animals and things, suitably adjusted to the specific subject, regardless of what may be used as the illustration in this work.
In SHOWMANSHIP FOR MAGICIANS I gave a detailed explanation of The Cabinet of Quong Hi . This is a transposition using the principle of two compartments, either of which may become secret, combined with the use of a shell as a secret compartment. Many transpositions have been presented utilizing a Changing Bag , which depends also upon the principle of two compartments, either of which may become secret. A large cabinet similar to that used for the Quong Hi trick could be used for the transposition of human beings, with certain changes.
These transpositions seem to become more complex as more than one subject is used. This is not because new principles are involved. Rather it is because the inventor is confronted with TWO separate transpositions, in the case of two subjects, each operating simultaneously. No matter how complex this effect may seem, if each transposition is analyzed individually, it will be found that already familiar methods are being utilized.
This is the way the inventor of a complex or compound transposition should view the problem. Each subject is a separate consideration. The matter is complicated, doubtless, by the necessity for simultaneous—or apparently simultaneous operation. Circumstances arising from the use of a method for the transposition of one subject may influence the selection of the method for the second. And so on.
Let me illustrate this with a trick that is perhaps familiar:
Thayer used to catalogue a trick called Here, There or Where? A vase is filled with rice. An orange is covered with a tube. And a bottle is covered with another tube. Ultimately the orange is found in the vase, the bottle is found beneath the tube which formerly covered the orange, and when the second tube is lifted the rice gushes out where once the bottle stood.
Probably the first consideration was the change from the rice to the orange in the case of the vase. The orange was in the vase from the beginning, the vase never having been shown empty. The rice is poured into the vase until it covers the orange. When the lid is put on, a plunger in the bottom of the vase is pressed, opening a trap in the bottom of the vase and allowing the rice to run into the hollow foot. Here we have two secret compartments. When the rice covers the orange, the bulk of the rice supplies a secret compartment, no matter how fluid it may be, within which is hidden the orange. The rice ultimately is disposed of in another secret compartment.
When the original orange is shown it is covered with a tube. But prior to that a shell bottle, fitting over the original bottle, is stolen inside the tube. The tube containing the shell bottle is placed over the orange. Ultimately, when this tube is lifted, the shell is left on the plate. This shell bottle covers and conceals the original orange. Here we have a shell stolen with an accessory. This shell ultimately provides the secret compartment within which is hidden the orange.
The original bottle is also a shell. But this shell is fitted with a removable bottom. Prior to the performance a quantity of rice is placed within this shell, after which the bottom is put in place. Ultimately the bottom is detached and this shell bottle is lifted within the cylinder as it is picked up to reveal the change. Here we have another secret compartment combined with carrying away the shell within an accessory.
You can obtain an entirely new trick, but with an identical effect, by a substitution of all objects. Instead of rice we shall use corn flakes. Instead of the vase we shall use a bottomless coffee cup, placing the saucer on top as a lid. We shall place the cup on a tray that also has a hole. But the hole in the tray coincides with the hole in a black art tabletop. Instead of the orange we shall use a doughnut. Instead of the conventional bottle we shall use a milk bottle. Of course, the milk bottles will be nesting shells, the inner one being equipped with the removable bottom. Instead of the usual metal cylinders, we shall use the two sections of the morning newspaper, rolled into cylinders. We could call this The Breakfast Fantasy , or What Happened to the Tired Business Man on the Morning After the Night That Made Him Tired .
If you don't like the use of milk bottles, substitute rectangular alarm clocks, with breakfast food cartons as covers.
Truly, magical invention needs the touch of genius!!!
Leon Herrmann performed a similar transposition, a trick later catalogued by A. Roterberg, called The Vase, Cone, Beans and Orange Trick . Beans placed in a vase change to a wooden cone that has been wrapped in a handkerchief. An orange, placed on the foot of the inverted vase, vanishes while coveted with a paper cone. The beans appear in a borrowed hat. The orange appears in the performer's hands. In fact, there was much to-do and changing around—even more than outlined here. But the basic trick plot is essentially the same, even though more complicated, as that outlined above.
Many transpositions are effected by concealing a duplicate of the original object within or behind a container or cover. The original object may be vanished by any method. Then the container or cover is lifted, exposing the duplicate as the original object in a new location. Some of the transpositions in some of the cups and balls routines are examples of this.
The Needle Trick or, in its more recent form, The Razor Blade Trick , might be classified under one of several categories, particularly it might be called an animation trick in the respect that the ultimate result could only be achieved, apparently, by the self-movement of the objects used. Or it could be termed a transposition from the viewpoint that the thread and needles change from one condition—separated—to another—tied together.
Taking it as a transposition, the effect is obtained by concealing the original objects, the needle and thread, in a secret compartment. Then duplicates, threaded and tied together, are revealed, taken from a secret compartment. Of course, in the case of the needle trick the spaces between the teeth and the cheek, on either side of the mouth, supply the needed compartments.
In the original version of The Razor Trick the glass of water supplies the secret compartment for the unthreaded blades. And the threaded ones come from a secret compartment in the spool of thread. One other principle is employed. The threaded blades are conveyed from the secret compartment to the mouth by means of concealment within or behind an accessory, the hand.
Transpositions may be made possible by using expanding or collapsible duplicates. Suppose one were to desire an exchange of an alarm clock and a large die. The die is placed on one tray, and the alarm clock on another. Suddenly they visibly change places.
The die is hollow and made in such a manner that its sides will fall down and become part of the tray top. Inside is a duplicate alarm clock.
The tray upon which the original alarm clock is placed is specially constructed. Built into its top is a die that will spring up suddenly and completely enclose the clock.
In performance the clock is placed on one tray and the die upon another tray. Upon release, the sides of the die fall away with great speed and reveal the duplicate clock. Simultaneously, at the other tray the die built into the top will spring up and envelop the original clock.
Displacement, as applied to opaque liquids, is an indirect application of the secret compartment principle. In a book published in 1929, called SOMETHING NEW IN MAGIC , Ned Williams explained a transposition of a quantity of ink. A tumbler is held in either hand. One glass is full and the other is almost empty. Gradually the ink increases in the almost empty tumbler while that in the other visibly decreases until the quantities have been transposed. The method is a hollow celluloid shell insert in each glass. These shells may be moved up or down. As the shells move down the quantity of ink seems to increase, and as they move upwards the level of the ink drops. The transposition is accomplished by alternating the positions of the shell inserts in the glasses held in either hand.
One die transposition is accomplished through using the roller blind principle. The die is dropped into a box that has an open face towards the audience. A derby hat is placed on top of the box. Then, through the open face of the box, the die is seen to move slowly upwards towards the hat. Finally the box is shown empty and the die is revealed in the hat.
Fundamentally, when the die is dropped into the box it pulls a built in roller blind down in front of it. Upon the face of the blind is a replica of the side of the die facing the audience. The die itself is stolen from the box and secreted within the hat. Finally, the blind is allowed to ascend slowly. This gives one impression that the die is slowly rising. When the blind is clear up, of course the box is empty. The die is then taken from the hat.
De Muth's Milk Miracle is a transposition of a quantity of milk from a milk bottle to a large tumbler. But in the original effect the audience is given the impression that the milk is penetrating through a saucer separating the two receptacles. Thus, it should be classified as a penetration, matter through matter, rather than as a mysterious change from one place to another. The audience understands that the milk moves from the bottle to the glass by gravity. What the spectators are supposed not to understand is HOW it manages to penetrate through the bottom of the milk bottle and through the saucer.
There are a number of chemical transpositions. One of these appears in CHEMICAL MAGIC . Here two cardboards are shown. Upon one is written a name. This is covered with a blotter. Upon the opposite side of the stage a blank card is covered with another blotter. Upon lifting the blotters the name is seen to have transposed itself from the first card to the second.
The name is written on the first card with a solution made of equal parts of ferric ammonium sulfate and sodium ferrocyanide. A pen is used. The blotter placed over it has been soaked in a solution of sodium carbonate. This blotter will cause the name to become invisible.
The duplicate name on the apparently blank card is written with a ferric ammonium sulfate solution. The blotter covering this is soaked with sodium ferrocyanide. This blotter, placed over the invisible writing, will cause it to become visible.
Here again is a transposition effected simply by causing the original to become invisible while the duplicate is brought into view at another location.
Probably the most striking chemical transposition is that wherein the contents of two tumblers, one filled with ink and the other with water, visibly change places. This trick has been revived recently. But it originally appeared in THE STANYON SERIALS. No. 18 , in 1909.
As originally explained, the original glass of ink is not really ink. It is water. But a silk lining is placed inside the glass. This may be removed beneath the folds of the handkerchief with which the glass of "ink" is covered.
It is the glass of water that visibly changes to ink. Before performance this glass is half full of a very dilute solution of sulfurous acid. The water in the pitcher, from which the glass is filled, is a dilute solution of iodic acid. Just before performance a starch solution has been added to the liquid in the pitcher.
The fingers cover the liquid in the glass as the "water", is apparently poured from the pitcher. Some ten to fifteen seconds after these two liquids have been combined, the solution will suddenly change from a clear, transparent water—like quality to a deep blue-black.
The magician merely times his patter to accommodate the time interval.
Stanyon gives very detailed instructions on the preparation of the solutions and their care. I haven't repeated them here because an improved formula is available, ready to use, at all dealers. It is called Think Ink .
Without much doubt, the greatest transposition effect in the entire repertoire of magic is The Substitution Trunk Trick . While this trick could be placed in the penetration category, undoubtedly the average spectator views this is an instantaneous change in place of two people.
The method, of course, is based on the principle of secret passageway, secret passageway of the original tenant of the trunk from a wrist tie, a cloth sack and from the trunk itself. And secret passageway of the second principal into the trunk, into the sack and into the wrist tie.
Let's look at refinements. Still maintaining the basic method of secret passageway, we try to add something that will make that method seem impossible. For some years, there has been an addition to this trunk trick. It consists in a canvas cover being laced around the trunk.
But once more we revert to the same basic principle. A bow-knot is tied at the end of the cord used for the lacing. By pulling out this knot, which is placed inside and may be reached when the secret panel in the box is opened, the canvas cover may be partially unlaced for the escape. Afterwards, the other principal re-laces the cover and ties it again.
In the version I have been featuring for some years, we line the bottom, ends and sides with solid sheets of steel. Actually the trunk has TWO bottoms. The inside bottom receives the bottom plate. When it is unlocked this bottom, which is equipped with spring hinges, swings as a door, carrying the steel plate with it. The outside bottom has the usual secret panel.
The Blue Phantom , a well-known transposition of large checkers which have been threaded on a rod, utilizes principles already discussed. The first movement of the blue checker, from the top of the stack to the middle, uses a combination of a secret hiding place of the original blue checker and a shell duplicate. The second movement employs a secret hiding place for the original, a secret hiding place for the shell duplicate, and brings a third blue disc from a secret compartment.
There is actually no end to the examples of transpositions that might be cited when it is realized that any vanish, coupled with the appearance of a duplicate in another position, becomes a transposition. However, this extensive discussion of applications of the several basic principles may serve to illustrate how these methods may be applied.
Further, I have tried to show how entirely new tricks result, utilizing the identical methods, when the objects actually used are changed to something else.
These principles may be used for all kinds of transpositions. They apply to tricks with livestock, with people or with inanimate objects. They may be applied to mechanical or sleight-of-hand methods. Cards are objects. These principles apply as well to tricks utilizing cards exclusively.
All that is necessary to do is to select the objects, to select the method which might be best adapted to the objects used, and to work out all of the detailed phases resulting from the particular circumstances presented.
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