In resuming my hints to amateurs, I shall now offer some remarks upon two subjects.
First.—I will notice the class of tricks that are performed by the collusion of a confederate. Old books on conjuring record several of this description, and some conjurors still practise them. But I do not advise the inexperienced frequently to exhibit tricks of this sort, for the co-operation of assistants used in them is liable to be traced by spectators, or to be divulged by the person who has been employed to aid in the exhibition of them. They may, indeed, be very well as a make-shift until dexterity of hand is acquired; but they will always rank as an inferior branch of the science of conjuring, and if the collusion is discovered, it will throw discredit even upon those tricks which the same performer may exhibit without such collusive arrangement. An instance of the annoying failure of such dependence upon confederates is recorded in “Houdin’s Memoirs.” It is there related that Torrini, at the commencement of his career, was insidiously induced by an envious rival (Pinetti) to undertake a public exhibition of his art before a very grand assembly. Torrini was at the time diffident of his own attainments, but he was persuaded to make the attempt by the assurance of Pinetti that he would take care that several confederates should be present, and should help in carrying out sundry illusions which he would have to display. One of these was, that the conjuror, after borrowing a ring, was to restore it magically into the possession of its owner. The ring was borrowed, and some mysterious gesticulations practised; but instead of the contemplated result being produced, the false confederate proclaimed aloud that he had lent a very valuable jewelled ring, and had only received back a common copper ring. The audience was of course disappointed at such words so derogatory to the conjuror. This unpleasant feeling was deepened by the malicious meddling of another false confederate. Torrini had to present some cards to the King of Naples, who was honoring the assembly by witnessing the exhibition, and a card was selected by his Majesty. Instead, however, of being pleased with what he saw on the card, the king manifested intense disapprobation. The confederate had written on the card words of disrespect and insult, and Torrini had to retire amid the loud censures of the enraged spectators. There may be no danger of so disastrous results to a young amateur; but dissatisfaction of a milder kind will probably ensue whenever it is discovered that any trick has depended upon the secret co-operation of an assistant among the spectators.
TheSECONDtopic which I propose at present to discuss is the employment of mechanism—such mechanical constructions as boxes with false sides, cabinets with secret drawers, or double compartments, etc.
It makes a great difference whether such arrangements are used as subordinate aids, or as constituting the essence and substance of the illusion. In the former respect it is quite legitimate to take advantage of any well-arranged mechanical aid subordinately. In fact, nearly all tricks must be performed with some modified aid of artistic contrivance, or with mechanical implements adroitly used. The conjuror, therefore, unavoidably requires, and may advantageously employ, mechanical arrangements to give greater effect to his illusions. I only wish to dissuade the learner from relying solely upon mere mechanical puzzles, or artistic contrivances, for furnishing an interesting exhibition of the conjuror’s art.
The fewer the contrivances which he employs of this sort, and the more entirely the performance rests upon sleight-of-hand the more lively will be the surprise of the spectators.
I myself prefer doing without the aid of any confederate, and without mechanical aids; but I must remember that I am writing for amateurs and novices in the art, and that, in proportion as they are unpractised in palmistry, and in what the French term prestidigitation, (preste digite, signifying “ready fingers,”) it will be desirable for them, at first, to have the assistance which mechanism will supply towards the exhibition of their tricks.
Let them, however, keep such aids as subordinate and as secret as possible. For instance, in the preparation for exhibiting the first trick described on page 12, the small tin tube (which is requisite for the performance of that trick) must not be seen by the audience, eitherBEFOREorAFTERthe trick is exhibited, but must be kept secreted in the pocket. Again, in Trick No. 4, the preparation of the hair and beeswax must be madePRIVATELYbeforehand; and these implements must vanish out of sight when the trick is over. And the reader must observe that in both the first and fourth tricks the mechanical aid employed is the minor and subordinate part of the tricks, and that a successful exhibition of either of them depends really on the dexterity of the passes, and of manipulations by the performer.
It may be admitted, then, that, with regard to the first topic of our present paper, the young conjuror need not be restrained from employing the subordinate aid of an assistant, so far as this may carry him over difficulties which he cannot otherwise surmount in the present stage of his imperfect skill.
And in regard to the second topic, the employment of mechanical contrivances, (though it may be well to begin with those departments of the art which are easier, because aided by mechanical apparatus,) it will be desirable for the amateur to strive to get free from dependence upon such aids. Mechanical arrangements cannot be wholly discarded at any time, and the conjuror will always require a few implements; but the more he advances in dexterity of hand, quickness of eye, control of his hand and eye, instantaneous adaptation of his words and movements to contingencies as they arise, the more able will he become to elude the observation of the most watchful spectators, and to mislead their imagination, so that they shall fancy that they see himDOthings which he onlyAPPEARSto do, and shall blindly fail to observe actions and movements carried out before their very eyes.
And here let me say, that I have, by long experience, come to the conviction, that the simpler and more common the objects are on which, and with which, a trick is performed, and the less anything beyond dexterity of hand is openly used, the greater will be the astonishment and the amusement of the spectators. There are, it is true, some very striking and complicated illusions which it is impossible to present without resorting to artistic contrivances of mechanical or scientific arrangement. On these illusions, as being beyond the power of a young amateur, I need not dwell. Nor need the preceding remarks be considered as any disparagement of the combinations and extrinsic aid which are indispensable for developing such startling illusions. The scope of my present remarks is simply to this effect, that to depend mainly upon the co-operation of a confederate, or upon mechanical contrivances, for what can be far better carried out by mere sleight-of-hand, will not pass for a satisfactory exhibition of conjuring now-a-days; and the amateur will find that, as he advances in skill and dexterity, he will swim more freely the less he trusts to such unsubstantial bladders to uphold him.
Having thus discussed my two topics I shall now add explanations of a few more tricks, which the learner may practise with the hope of making progress in the art of conjuring. The only way to make such progress and gain high attainments in the art, is to practise diligently over and over again the passes I have described in my former paper, and to learn to do a few tricks neatly, and without hesitation or stumbling. I subjoin, therefore, some simple but effective tricks, in which they will do well to perfect themselves.
PREPARATION.
Have a quarter of your own secreted in your right hand. Then borrow two handkerchiefs, and a quarter and a penny, from any one in the audience. Tell the lender to mark or accurately observe them, so that he will know them again. In placing them on the table, substitute your own quarter for the borrowed one, and conceal the borrowed one in your palm.
MEMORANDUM.
It is better to use things borrowed than coin of your own. Still, the conjuror should provide himself with articles requisite to display any trick, or otherwise much delay may occasionally arise while borrowing them.
Commence the trick by pointing out where the quarter and the penny are lying on the table. Take up the penny and show it openly to all. Then take up one of the handkerchiefs, and while pretending to wrap up the penny in it, substitute in its place the borrowed quarter which you had concealed in your palm, and ask one of your friends to feel that it is enfolded in the handkerchief, and bid him hold the handkerchief enclosing it above his head. Ask him if he has got the penny there safely. He will reply that he has.
Then take up your own quarter which was laid upon the table; pretend to wrap it up in the second handkerchief, but adroitly substitute the penny, (which you concealed in your palm while wrapping up the first handkerchief.) Ask some friend to hold it up above his head, indulging in some facetious remark. Slip your own quarter into your pocket. Clap your hands or wave your wand, saying, “Change.” Tell your friends to unfold their handkerchiefs. They will be astonished to find that the quarter and penny have changed places.
PREPARATION.
Have an orange or lemon ready, with a slit made in its side sufficiently large to admit the dime easily; and have in your pocket a good-sized silk handkerchief with a dime stitched into one of its corners.
Borrow a marked dime. Take out your handkerchief, and while pretending to wrap this dime in the handkerchief, conceal it in your palm, and take care that the one previously sewn into the corner of the handkerchief can be felt easily through the handkerchief. Giving it to one of your friends, tell him to feel that it has the dime in it, and to hold it up over his head firmly. While giving these directions to your friend, the dime that is in your palm must be transferred to your pocket, and introduced into the slit of the orange. Then bring the orange out of your pocket, and place it on a table; you will keep the slit on the side away from the audience.
Then make a few mesmeric passes over the hand of the person that holds the handkerchief, saying, “I will now destroy the sense of feeling in your hands. Tell me, can you feel the dime?” He will say, “Yes.” You can reply, “Oh, you must be wrong, sir. See! I will shake out the handkerchief.” Taking hold of one corner of it, shake it out, saying, “Observe, nothing will fall to the ground. You see that you were mistaken about feeling it in the handkerchief.”
The fact is, the dime being stitched in the ‘corner’ could not fall out, and you must take care not to let that corner of the handkerchief hit against the ground. Put the handkerchief in your pocket, and say, “But I must return the borrowed dime.” Exclaim: “Fly, dime, into the orange on the table.” Cut up orange, and show the dime concealed in it, and then restore it to its owner, asking him to tell the audience if he finds it to be his own marked dime.
The only preparation is to have four cents concealed in your left palm.
Commence the trick by calling forward one of the spectators, and let him bring up his hat with him.
Then borrow five cents, or have them ready to produce from your own pocket should there be any delay.
Request your friend, while he places them one by one on a small plate or saucer, to count them audibly, so that the company may hear their number correctly. Inquire, “How many are there?” He will answer, “Five.” Take up the saucer and pour them into your left hand, (where the other four are already concealed.) Then say, “Stay, I will place these in your hat, and you must raise it above your head, for all to see that nothing is added subsequently to them.” You will have placed these nine cents in his hat unsuspected by him.
Borrow five cents more. Make Pass 1, as described on page 9, appearing to throw these five into your left hand, but reallyretaining them in your right hand, which is to fall by your side as if empty.
Afterwards get rid of four of the five cents into your pocket, retaining only one in your right palm.
Hold up your closed left hand, and say, while blowing on it: “Pass, cents, from my left hand into the hat. Now, sir, be kind enough to see if they have come into your possession. Please to count them aloud while placing them in the saucer.” He will be surprised, as well as the spectators, to find that the cents in his hat have become nine.
You may then put on a rather offended look, and say: “Ah, sir! ah! I did not think you would do so! You have taken one out, I fear.” Approaching your right hand to his sleeve, shake the sleeve, and let the one cent, which you have in your own hand, drop audibly into the saucer. It will raise a laugh against the holder of the hat. You can say: “Excuse me, I only made it appear that you had taken one. However, you see that the original money is now doubled.”
PREPARATION.
Have a dime of your own wrapped in the centre of a piece of cambric about five or six inches in diameter, the ends falling down loose. Conceal these in the palm of your left hand.
Borrow a marked dime from any of the spectators, and a white cambric handkerchief. Throw the handkerchief spread out over your left palm, (holding under the handkerchief your own dime wrapped in the small piece of cambric.)
Openly place the borrowed dime on the centre of the spread-out handkerchief. Keeping hold of that dime, jerk the ends of the handkerchief over, so as to fall loose down from the lower side of your left hand. Draw out from between your thumb and fingers (that is from the upper side of your left hand) about two inches of the smaller piece of cambric, containing your own dime. The spectators will naturally conceive the two pieces of cambric you hold in that hand to be merely the cambric handkerchief.
Call any of the spectators forward, and request him to mark off with his knife the portion of the piece of cambric which holds your own dime, and whisper to him to cut it completely off, and to let the dime drop on the table. The spectators will believe that he has cut a hole in the handkerchief itself, and that the dime falling out is the one you recently borrowed, whereas it is in fact the other piece of cambric that has been cut, and the borrowed coin remains still wrapped up in the handkerchief.
Pretend to blame the person who cut the two inches off, saying: “Dear me, sir, what have you done? You have quite destroyed this nice handkerchief. Well, I hope, madam, you will pardon the mistake, if I manage by magic to restore to you your handkerchief in perfect order, and I request you to allow me to try to do so.” Carefully holding in the candle the edges of the cambric, (both of the part cut off and of the portion from which it was cut,) and letting the real handkerchief hang down from the same hand, pretend with a conjuring wand to weld together the edges of the cambric when they get hot, as a blacksmith welds metals together. You can prevent the flame from reaching the real handkerchief by tightly pressing your fingers. Then exclaim: “Oh, where is the dime?” and while picking it up from the table, get quietly rid of the pieces of cambric with their burnt edges into a hat or some corner unseen by the audience.
Holding up the dime which you had just lifted from the table say: “But to complete my trick I must replace this dime in the centre of the restored handkerchief, whence it was cut out.”
Make the Pass 1, appearing to pass it into the centre of the handkerchief, but retaining it in your hand, and afterwards secretly pocket it. The handkerchief has already the borrowed dime in it. Say to the handkerchief: “Change—restore!” and unfolding it, show the borrowed coin in it. Shake out the handkerchief and show it is all sound and right, and restore it with thanks, as well as the borrowed dime, to the owners.
I will now give my young friends a nice, easy trick, requiring very little dexterity, as the articles for its exhibition can be purchased at any depot for the sale of conjuring apparatus; therefore the most diffident amateur will be able to display this trick.
PREPARATION.
Have a die exactly like the common dice, only it may be about two inches square. Have two covers for it, one of them exactly resembling the appearance of a die, only hollow, except that one side of it is open, so that it can easily be placed over, or be taken off, the solid die.
The other cover may be of decorated material, and it is intended to be placed over the first die-cover. Let this last cover be made of some pliant material, so that by compressing gently two of its sides with your fingers, while lifting it up, you can lift up the first die-cover, which will be within it.
Commence the trick by borrowing two hats; place one with its rims upwards on the table, and show that you place in that hat the die with its first cover on it. But say, “I forgot to appeal to the company whether they will like to see the trick done visibly or invisibly.” They will most likely say, “Visibly;” but it is of no consequence which answer they make, for the process of the trick is the same in either case.
Take out from the lower hat the first cover, which is painted exactly like a die, and having placed the second hat (with its rims downwards) on the other hat, display the first cover, and openly place it on the crown of the upper hat. All the spectators will believe it to be the solid die itself. Then take your penknife; you may just thrust it into the crown of the hat, and pretend to cut all round the die-cover there lying; say—“I shall now bid it move into the lower hat, but it will not do so while uncovered, so I must place this ornamental cover over it.” Do so; show that you have nothing in your hands or sleeves; then wave your wand or your hand, and say, “Change, pass, die, into the lower hat.” Give it a little time. Then, compressing the outward cover gently, lift off also with it the painted die-cover, which it has inside it. Lift up the lower hat, and show the company the solid die lying in it. Show all that the upper hat has received no injury.
The illusion to the audience will be that the solid die has passed through the crown of the upper hat without at all injuring it. Return the hats to the owners, and show them to be uninjured.
PREPARATION.
Have packages of various candies, wrapped up in bags of the thinnest tissue paper, and place them on your table rather sheltered from observation. Have also a plate or two on your table.
MEMORANDUM.
It will be always desirable to have the table removed two or three yards at least from the spectators, and of a height that they cannot see the surface of it while sitting down in front of it.
Commence the trick by borrowing a silk handkerchief, or any large handkerchief. After turning it about, throw it out on the table, so as to fall over one of these packages.
Having carefully observed where the bag lies, place your lefthand so as to take up the bag while catching hold of the middle of the handkerchief.
Taking the handkerchief up by nearly the centre, the edges of it will fall around and conceal the bag; make some pretended wavings of your wand or right hand over the handkerchief, and say, “Now, handkerchief, you must supply my friends with some bon-bons.” Squeeze with your right hand the lower part of the bag which is under the handkerchief; the bag will burst, and you can shake out into a plate its contents.
Asking some one to distribute them among your young friends, you can throw the handkerchief (as it were carelessly) over another bag, from which you can in the same way produce a liberal supply of some other sweetmeats, or macaroon biscuits, etc., etc., all of which will be duly appreciated by the juveniles, and they will applaud as long as you choose to continue thisSWEETtrick.