Place a small quantity in an old frying-pan and put it over the fire until it is thoroughly hot. Then drop in a small piece of tallow candle. When the grease melts stir it well into the sand, so that every grain is covered. Then take the sand off the fire and press it down into little moulds.
As sands of three different colours are to be used in the trick it follows that the prepared sands must be put in moulds of three different shapes, because the conjurer merely has to feel in the water for the particular blocks of sand that he requires at each dip. The white sand can be put into little round, flat moulds, about as large as four halfpennies stuck together. When these little round blocks of prepared sand are cool they will be perfectly hard and waterproof.
The red sand can be placed in small square moulds and the blue sand in oval or round moulds; the shapes are immaterial so long as the conjurer remembers them.
The bags can be of paper. To prepare for the trick, turn one of the bags upside down and push the bottom of it inwards. Then place two or three of the blocks of sand of the right colour in the cavity at the bottom of the bag. Then turn the bag over and fill it with ordinary sand of the same colour.
Prepare the other two bags in the same way. In picking up each bag from the table, when you are going to do the trick, begin by lifting it about an inch from the table with the left hand; then grasp it round the middle with the right hand and hold the little finger under the bottom of the bag to prevent the blocks of sand from falling away. The paper of which the bags are made should be fairly stiff.
When all the sand from one of the bags has been poured out on to the hand—naturally a good deal of it will fall into the bowl—the conjurer turns his hand over and lets the sand drop into the bowl; at the same time he merely has to take his right little finger away from the bottom of the bag and the blocks fall into the water. They drop behind the falling sand, and being of the same colour they are not noticed by the audience.
If the conjurer does not care for this method of getting the prepared blocks into the water he can have larger bags and have the prepared blocks in them with the sand. In that case he dips his hand into a bag, takes out a handful of sand, and lets it trickle back into the bag. He does this once or twice; then he takes out a handful of sand and lets it fall into the water, taking care to let the audience see that he puts in nothing but sand. He repeats the action. Then, in taking another handful of sand, he gets two or three of the blocks with it, lets some of the sand fall into the water, brings his hand down close to the water, releases the "blocks," brings his hand up again and releases the rest of the sand from it. He can continue in this way until the bag is empty.
If the performer is on a stage there is very little likelihood of the audience seeing the blocks even if they are dropped from a height with the sand, but in a room, with the audience close to the table, it is as well to take every precaution against the discovery of the secret.
As for the rest of the trick, the effect is produced entirely by showmanship. In the hands of a capable performer the trick will cause a sensation, but if it is presented in a slipshod careless way, so that the audience are not thoroughly convinced at each stage of the trick that there has been "no deception," then the trick will go for nothing. For example, if the conjurer neglects to take out a handful of the wet sand and show it to the audience, he misses a point. Of course, all that the conjurer really has to do is to feel in the bowl for the particular blocks of sand he requires. It is as well to have one or two more blocks than are actually necessary. When the conjurer has taken out a handful of the blocks he requires he merely has to crush them in his hand and they fall in a shower of dry sand.
A hint to the drawing-room performer. After the performance see that the water is poured away at once; otherwise, if some of the younger and more inquisitive members of your audience come round behind your screen at the close of the performance they will be sure to want to know how this trick was done, and if they get a glimpse of the water they may possibly notice grease floating on the surface!
Various other methods have been invented for keeping certain portions of sand dry when other sand of similar colour is placed in water. Some conjurers have done the sand up in little packets of grease-proof paper. I have also heard of tiny air balloons being filled with sand. The great drawback of any of these other methods is that when the conjurer is letting the dry sand trickle away from his hand into the goblet he cannot immediately let the audience see that he has nothing concealed in his hand. He has to go at once to the bowl for the next handful and leave the "fake," whatever it may be, in the bottom of the bowl. By using the method I have described the conjurer gets the most convincing effect, and if he prepares a large quantity of the different blocks of sand at the same time the trick is really not troublesome. The exact quantity of tallow required must be determined by experiment; it will depend, of course, on the amount of sand which is being prepared.
The object of using goblets for the display of the dry sands is to enable the members of the audience in the front rows of seats to see the sands. When one is performing to an audience composed chiefly of children the first two or three rows of seats are usually occupied by very small children, and from their positions they cannot see the top of the table. Raise the object which you are going to place on the table and you bring it within the view of everyone.
Every good trick has a clear, logical conclusion. Although the conjurer is apparently reversing one of Nature's laws he must also be more or less reasonable in his performance. For example, if he tears up a piece of paper into little pieces and then causes these pieces to form together into four strips equal in length when laid end to end, to the original piece, the conjurer is not behaving in a reasonable manner; he should cause the little pieces to join together into one strip and the audience must be led to believe that that strip is the original piece of paper and that in some mysterious manner the conjurer has joined the pieces together. The conjurer who does that brings his trick to what may be called a "logical conclusion."
I mention this matter here because it bears upon the trick which I am about to explain. In its simplest—and crudest—form this trick consists in causing a playing card placed into a jug of water to disappear; the water is supposed to dissolve the card. I imagine, however, that no intelligent audience would be satisfied with the trick in that form; there is obviously something wanting, and that something is the magical reappearance of the card.
There are dozens of ways in which the trick could be completed—that is to say, in which the card could be caused to reappear—but it must be remembered that the card has apparently been dissolved in water, and that therefore to bring the trick to the "logical conclusion" which is the attribute of all good tricks, the water in which the card has apparently been dissolved should be used in some way to bring about the reappearance of the card.
It seems to me that if we were to reproduce the card in a box, or case, or frame which had previously been shown to be empty we should not have a very convincing trick. It might be argued, of course, that if instead of suggesting that the card is dissolved in water we suggest that it is made to disappear from the water we may fairly be allowed to reproduce the card in any way we please. To regard the trick in that way is to destroy the plot of it and to substitute another plot. In the one case the conjurer is suggesting to his audience that the card remains in the water in a state of solution and in the other that the card has disappeared altogether from the water. I think you get a much better effect if you induce your audience to think that the water has dissolved the card, and it is for that reason that I have given the title "The Dissolved Card" to the trick.
I propose, therefore, that we should present the trick in this way. The conjurer brings forward a pack of cards, shuffles the cards with their faces towards the audience, and asks someone in the audience to take a card and to place it on the top of the pack. A glass jug, nearly full of water, is then held up for inspection, and, lastly, a large dark silk handkerchief—or muffler—is casually shown. If one of those very trying persons who are always anxious to discover a conjurer's secrets appears anxious to examine the handkerchief the conjurer will do well to pretend that he is in a tight corner for a moment, but, somewhat reluctantly, he allows the interrupter to examine the handkerchief; as a matter of fact, the conjurer is not at all perturbed, because there is no "trick" about the handkerchief.
While the jug of water and the handkerchief are being exhibited the pack of cards is on the table. The conjurer picks it up, removes the top card and asks the person who took it to say if it is the card which was chosen and placed on the top of the pack. The answer is sure to be, "Yes."
The conjurer holds the card in his left hand with its face towards the audience, and his thumb and lingers pointing upwards. (The position of the hand is important for the working of the trick, and therefore the reader will do well to remember it.)
The conjurer throws the silk handkerchief over the card and arranges it neatly, so that the card is about in the centre of the handkerchief. Bringing his right hand over the top of the handkerchief the conjurer takes the card in that hand and holds it over the jug of water, while with his left hand he drapes the handkerchief round the outside of the jug, practically hiding it. Someone in the audience is asked to take the card from the conjurer (holding it, of course, with the handkerchief over it) and to drop it into the water at the word "Go!" When this is done the handkerchief naturally drops down and covers the jug. The conjurer picks up the jug with the left hand and whisking away the handkerchief with the right hand shows that the water has dissolved the card.
The conjurer then brings forward two slates, and in order to get them thoroughly clean wipes them with a small sponge which he dips into the jug of water. The slates are dried, placed together, wrapped in a sheet of newspaper and given into the possession of a member of the audience. The audience are led to believe that the name of the card is to be written magically on the slates, but when the person holding them takes off the paper he finds to his surprise that the card is between the slates and, as a matter of fact, the card is the identical card that was chosen in the first place.
This effect is brought about by means of a few subtle—but quite easy—"moves" and the use of one little "fake." The jug of water is standing on the conjurer's table; placed just behind it is the large silk handkerchief folded in four, and behind the handkerchief is a piece of transparent celluloid of the exact size of the cards which are to be used; beside the piece of celluloid is the pack of cards.
Picking up the cards, the conjurer shuffles them with their faces towards the audience, thus showing—without directly calling attention to the fact—that the pack is an ordinary one. The conjurer advances to someone with the request that a card may be chosen.
"Please take any card you like," says the conjurer. "Perhaps you would like to take the pack in your hand and select a card at your leisure. When you have made up your mind will you please put the card on the top of the pack. . . . Have you done that? You'll know the card again when you see it? Thank you. In order that everyone may remember the card I will show it to the audience; there is no harm in my knowing what it is."
The conjurer receives the pack back again, lifts off the top card, shows it to the audience, returns it to the pack and then, turning the pack over, drops it face upwards on the table so that it falls on the top of the piece of celluloid. If the cards spread a little when they fall, so much the better. The conjurer then exhibits the jug of water.
"A jug of water," he says. "If there were any trickery about this it would be a transparent fraud, wouldn't it? But there is no trickery about it; it's just the ordinary water that comes down from the clouds and is charged for at the ordinary rates." (He puts the jug on the table and picks up the handkerchief.) "A large silk handkerchief. Three hundred silkworms had to work overtime for a fortnight to make the silk for this handkerchief; it isn't one of those tiny little handkerchiefs." (The conjurer shows both sides of the handkerchief and puts it down again.) "And now I am going to see if you all have a good memory. Do you remember what card was chosen and placed on the top of the pack? You do? Well; let us see if you are right."
It will be remembered that the cards are face upwards on the table. The conjurer picks up the pack with his right hand (including with it the piece of celluloid), turns it over, and places it in his left hand; directly it is there the right hand is brought over the pack to square it up. The left thumb then pushes the piece of celluloid over the edge of the pack for about half an inch—the right little finger preventing it from going too far—and the left thumb then pushes the top card forward in the same way. Thus the piece of celluloid is now directly over the top card, and the two can be lifted off the pack together and exhibited as one card. The conjurer shows the card to the audience on his right and then places it in his left hand and shows it to the audience on his left. Great care must be taken to nip the piece of celluloid and the card closely together, and when the card is in the left hand the thumb should be behind it, the fingers in front and the tips of the thumb and fingers should point upwards.
The conjurer picks up the handkerchief with his right hand and throws it over the card, at the same time saying:
"I cover the card with the handkerchief. I do this because it is so much easier than covering the handkerchief with the card. I want to get the centre of the handkerchief just over the card."
Directly the card is hidden by the handkerchief the conjurer pushes up the piece of celluloid with his thumb, while with his fingers he slides the card down a little way towards his wrist. In order to arrange the handkerchief properly over the card the conjurer puts his right hand under the handkerchief and lifts it into position, so that the centre is over the card. While his right hand is under the handkerchief the conjurer takes the card from the left hand and slips it for a moment into the left sleeve, taking care to push it down, so that when his hand is afterwards removed the card is hidden. The conjurer then brings his right hand over the top of the handkerchief and, gripping the piece of celluloid through the handkerchief, asks someone to hold it over the jug of water; of course, that person naturally thinks that he is holding the card, and the fact that the conjurer's hands are empty is proof that the card must be under the handkerchief.
The next step in the trick is very simple. Having draped the handkerchief round the jug and asked the person holding what he believes to be the card to release "the card" at the word "Go!" the conjurer merely has to take the handkerchief away and hold up the jug; the celluloid sinks to the bottom and is therefore invisible. The assistant is thanked and he returns to his seat.
The conjurer continues his patter:
"For a time the card is dissolved in that water, but if you would care to wait a few hours you will see the water gradually evaporate, leaving a kind of impression of the card stamped upon the jug. If you want the trick done quickly you have to send a special message to the good fairy who arranges these things. You would like the trick done quickly? Very well, then I must write the message to the fairy on one of these slates and ask for an immediate reply."
The conjurer picks up two ordinary slates and holds them in his left hand. The palm of the hand should be facing the audience and the fingers slightly bent. The ends of the two slates are rested on the fingers and against the arm.
"When writing to fairies," says the conjurer, "you must always have a clean slate." He dips a little sponge into the jug of water and sponges over the slate which is facing the audience; the slate is turned over and the other side is washed.
The conjurer now shifts the position of the slates. With his right hand he grasps them near the ends which are resting on the left hand, and as he does this he inserts the first and second fingers of his right hand into his left sleeve and draws out the card, keeping it hidden behind the slates. Directly he has done this the conjurer takes hold of the slates with the left hand, holding them by their sides; his fingers keep the card behind the slates. He should turn to his right when taking the slates in the left hand. The next step is to slide out the under slate by taking it with the right hand, while the left fingers keep the card pressed against the slate which has been at the top. The slate which has been taken away with the right hand is now placed on the top of the other, both sides are cleaned, and the conjurer, taking a piece of chalk, writes on the slate facing the audience:
"Please hurry up."
This slate is now drawn away with the right hand and placed under the other, thus getting the card in between the two slates, which are then wrapped in a sheet of paper and given to a member of the audience. The conjurer picks up the jug of water for a moment and pretends to discover suddenly that he has spoiled the experiment.
"I quite forgot," he says, "when I was cleaning the slates that I was using some of this water. There's no telling what may happen now; you may find little bits of the card all over the slates when they are dry. Would you mind having a look at them?"
The person holding the slates unwraps them and finds the card in between the two slates, and the conjurer finishes by suggesting that the fairy has saved the situation.
The only "move" in the trick which is not quite easy is that which the conjurer makes to get the card out of his sleeve and hidden behind the slates. A very little practice, for preference in front of a looking-glass, will enable the conjurer to get over this difficulty; he should bear in mind that what he is apparently doing is to lift the slates with the right hand and take them by the sides with the left hand. If those movements are practised until the conjurer can make them without having to stop to think about them he can then go on to practise making the same movements while, at the same time, he gets the card out of his sleeve and hides it behind the slates, keeping it there with the fingers of his left hand. This is quite easy, but for the benefit of beginners who may wish for a still more simple method of doing the trick I suggest the following.
The card is "forced"; that is to say, the conjurer apparently allows the person who is taking the card to have a free choice, but he really makes sure that the person takes one particular card. An expert card conjurer can "force" one particular card from an ordinary pack, but to do this is not easy, and even an expert cannot be absolutely certain of forcing the card which he wishes to use in a trick. Therefore, since the beginner is out to make the trick as simple and sure as possible he should use a "forcing pack," which consists of one card repeated, say, forty times; a few other indifferent cards are placed on the top and below the forty. The conjurer who is going to use a "forcing pack" should do some other card trick with an ordinary pack and then exchange it for the "forcing pack"; of course, the backs of the two packs must match. The conjurer must also take care to hold the cards down when he is having one selected, so that no one may get a glimpse under the cards.
The card is taken and placed on the top of the pack as in the first method, and the card is got rid of by being pushed down the left sleeve, but the procedure afterwards is greatly simplified.
One of the two slates used is a "flap" slate; that is to say, a loose piece of cardboard painted to resemble a slate is laid inside it. The cardboard is painted on both sides, and, therefore, when the ordinary slate is placed on the top of the flap slate and both are turned over together the "flap" falls into the ordinary slate.
The working of this part of the trick will now be obvious. A card similar to the one which has been forced is placed under the flap of one of the slates. When the conjurer picks up this slate he must be careful to hold the flap firmly with his thumb to prevent it from falling away. He lightly sponges both sides of the slate (in reality one side of the flap and one side of the slate); he then cleans the ordinary slate in the same way and places it on the top of the flap. He cannot give the slates to a member of the audience to hold, and, therefore, after he has turned them over, to get the flap to fall, the conjurer merely places a broad elastic band on them and stands them up for a moment against a candlestick or some piece of apparatus on the table after he has written the message to the fairy.
By using a flap slate in this way the conjurer can produce a message on one of the slates in addition to producing the card. The message is written on one of the slates and is then covered with the flap; when the flap falls the message and the card are both disclosed. Since the conjurer apparently cleans all four sides of the two slates and leaves them slightly damp he ought really to dampen the underside of the flap and the side of the slate concealed by the flap before he begins the trick; otherwise, someone with a very alert mind may point out at the conclusion of the trick that although the conjurer wiped all four sides of the slates with a damp sponge, two of them (really the underside of the flap and the side of the slate which was concealed by the flap in the first instance) are not quite dry. It is always as well to be prepared for interruptions of that kind.
The average beginner usually despises a very easy trick, simply because it is easy. Maybe it is for that reason that one seldom hears of a young amateur including the "Wine and Water" trick in his repertoire. I once heard a young amateur state his objection to the trick.
"Oh, it's so obviously just a chemical experiment," he said.
He was wrong. If the trick is presented properly it will not be "just a chemical experiment" but a very entertaining little bit of magic—simple in its effect, and very short. The trick used to be in the repertoire of Mr. David Devant, and other notable magicians have performed it in public.
There are many ways of presenting the trick, but I do not think that anyone has ever beaten Mr. Devant's method, which I give now with his permission. The effect is so clear that the youngest child in the audience can follow it.
Standing in a row on a tray on the table are four tumblers and a small glass jug, with water in it. The conjurer picks up the jug in one hand, a glass in another, pours out a little water and returns it to the jug. Then he puts the glass down and pours a little water into each glass; the glasses should be about half full. The audience are—or should be—surprised to see that although the liquid in the first and third glasses is undoubtedly water, the second and fourth glasses contain wine, or ink, or stout, or whatever the conjurer is pleased to call it; it is a black fluid.
The conjurer puts the jug down and, taking up the first and second glasses, mixes the contents together, with the result that he gets one glass full of "wine"; he pours this into the jug and all the water in the jug is immediately turned into wine. The conjurer then mixes the contents of the third and fourth glasses together, and he gets a glass of clear water. Pouring this into the jug he causes all the "wine" in it to change at once into clear water. Thus, at the finish of the trick the conjurer returns to the point at which he started—with a jug of water and four empty glasses.
The whole secret is in the "doctoring" of the four glasses. The preparations must be made carefully, and when presenting it in a strange place it is always necessary to try it out beforehand, because the quantities of the chemicals used which are sufficient to work the trick in one district may be quite wrong for the water of another district.
The glasses are prepared in this way. The first contains a teaspoonful of a saturated solution of tannin; the second and fourth glasses contain a few drops of a saturated solution of perchloride of iron, known to some chemists as "steel drops"; the third glass contains a few drops of a saturated solution of oxalic acid.
The object of pouring water into the first glass and tipping it back into the jug is to mix the tannin with the water in the jug. Directly he has done this the conjurer must be brisk in his movements, because after the tannin has been put in the water soon becomes slightly cloudy.
The exact quantities of the chemicals required can only be determined by experiment. Having settled that matter the conjurer has only to carry out the instructions already given. The second and fourth glasses will then have "wine" in them, and the first and third water. The contents of the first and second mixed together will be "wine," and when poured into the jug will cause the water left in the jug to change into "wine." The oxalic acid in the third glass does the trick of taking all the colour out of the contents of the fourth glass, and when he has poured that into the jug the conjurer finishes, as he began, with a "jug of water."
The jug should be taken away at once, because the water will probably become dull and clouded in the course of a few minutes. The "water," by the way, is poisonous; to avoid any chance of an accident the conjurer should pour it away at once, and should also see that the glasses and jug are well washed.
If fairly large tumblers are used the steel drops can be "rinsed" round the two tumblers (the second and fourth) just before the performance begins, and those tumblers can then be placed upside down on a tray; this position negatives the idea that there is anything in the tumblers at the beginning of the trick.
To cause a glass of water to vanish is hardly a complete trick, but it may well form part of many magical experiments. Thus, if you are presenting the "Rice Bowls" (see Chapter V) you can proceed with the trick up to the point when the rice has been secretly removed and the water is in readiness for the final effect. Leave the bowls as they are, one inverted on the other, and show a silk hat to the audience, letting them see inside it.
Now pick up a jug of water with your right hand and throw a large handkerchief over your right arm. With the left hand take a tumbler from the table, pour some water into it, and take it with the disengaged fingers of the right hand, so that with your left hand you can take the handkerchief from your right arm and throw it over the glass.
Directly you have done this, hold the glass, through the handkerchief, with the left hand and put the jug down on the table. The right hand drapes the handkerchief round the glass. Pause for a second, and then flick the handkerchief into the air. The glass of water has vanished.
Go to the silk hat and take from it a glass full of rice. The glass is apparently that which has just vanished and the rice is that which the audience think is in the lower bowl. Then go to the bowls and "discover" the missing water.
The disappearance of the glass of water is managed in this way. The handkerchief is really made of two handkerchiefs sewn together; sewn between them, in the centre, is a round piece of cardboard of the size of the top of the glass. When you throw the handkerchief over the glass you get the disc of cardboard exactly over the top of the glass. Take the glass in the left hand and tap it once against the top of the jug—just to let the audience be convinced that it is there. Then, as you take it away, drop it into the jug, which has been provided with a cloth or india-rubber bag for its reception. The bag is stiffened at the top. Of course, the cardboard disc conveys the impression that the glass is still under the handkerchief. The jug must be either a china or a metal one.
If you wish to use the vanish of the glass of water in the way I have suggested—in conjunction with the rice bowls—it will be necessary to have an opera hat with a hinged flap in the centre. Cut a piece of stiff cardboard of the size of the crown of the hat. To the centre of this fasten, by means of strips of black linen, a small, semicircular piece of cardboard, which will thus be hinged to the other piece. Cover the whole of this "fake" with black silk and put it into the open hat. The top of the hinged flap should be about half-way down the hat when the flap is resting against one side of the hat. It is an easy matter to hide a glass under the flap, and that glass is nearly filled with rice, which is prevented from coming out by means of a little plug of paper. By holding the fingers against the flap and the thumb on the brim of the hat it is an easy matter to prevent the glass from falling out when you casually hold the hat up for inspection by the audience. Keep the hat moving, and the audience will not see the flap. Put the hat down, letting the flap swing over to the other side of the hat. Then, when you wish to produce the glass of rice all you have to do is to pull out the plug of paper, leave it in the hat, and take out the glass. Pour the rice out on to a tray and then produce the water from the bowl, and pour it backwards and forwards from one bowl to another.
If you are using the metal bowls this vanish of the glass of water helps to fill in the time occupied by the water running from the top bowl to the one underneath it.
Pour some water into a tumbler until it is about half full. Place a short cardboard cylinder over the glass; when you lift the cylinder the glass is empty, and the cylinder is held with one end facing the audience; there is nothing inside it.
This is a very simple "vanish." The glass has a detachable lining of transparent celluloid which will hold water. The presence of the lining in the glass is not noticed. All that the conjurer has to do is to take care not to put too much water into the "glass," because if he does he may find a difficulty in lifting the lining out in the only way in which it can be lifted out. The cover is placed over the glass. In removing the cover the conjurer holds it with his thumb outside and his middle finger, which should be moistened, inside. Two fingers pull up the celluloid lining and hold it tightly against the cover, which, of course, hides it for a moment while the conjurer picks up the glass and shows that the water has vanished. While he does this he puts the cover down on his table for a moment and lets the celluloid lining sink gently down into a "well" in the table. A "well" is the conjurer's name for a hole in the top of the table. The top of the table is covered with black velvet, and the inside of the hole is lined with the same material. If there is a pattern of gold braid on the top of the table—though even this is not necessary if one is performing on a stage—the hole cannot be seen by the audience, even if they are a few feet away from the table.
The action of putting the cover down in a natural way, and not gingerly, as though the conjurer was afraid of something inside it, must be practised and, of course, the cover must be raised again at the earliest possible moment and shown to be empty.
The mere vanishing of water in this way is not a complete trick in itself; it should be combined with other tricks. The milk can, explained later on in this chapter, will serve for the purpose of the reproduction of the water, and if the conjurer will provide himself with an extra celluloid lining, load it with three or four handkerchiefs and place it behind a hat or some piece of apparatus on the table, he can easily build up a little trick.
Having shown the milk can to be empty, he fills the glass, covers it, and leaves it covered for a few moments while he shows some silk handkerchiefs similar to those in the "fake." He "vanishes" these handkerchiefs magically and shows his hands empty, or, if he prefers to do so, he can have another prepared glass similar to the first and put the handkerchiefs in that, so that he has a glass containing handkerchiefs on one side of his table and a glass containing water on the other, and the milk can in the centre. He lifts the cover from the handkerchiefs and shows that they have disappeared; of course, the "vanish" is managed in the same way, the celluloid lining of the glass containing the handkerchiefs going down another "well" in the table.
Then the conjurer vanishes the water in the way described and having got rid of the "fake," lifts the cover to show that it is empty and puts it down over a similar fake (but containing handkerchiefs similar to those which have been vanished). This fake can be standing behind an opera hat on the table, and the conjurer should take away the hat as he puts the cover down over the fake. He must not convey the impression that he is trying to hide the cover behind the hat. He then replaces the cover over the empty tumbler.
The position of things at this stage of the trick should be clear to the audience. The milk can was shown to be empty; the conjurer has caused some handkerchiefs and some water to vanish from two tumblers, one of which is left uncovered. Going to the uncovered one the conjurer lifts the cover and shows the handkerchiefs, and he can at once pour the water from the milk can.
I do not suggest for a moment that that would be a particularly good trick to do; I merely describe it in order to start you thinking of some other article which might be added to the water and the handkerchiefs to make a still more puzzling trick. A glance through any catalogue of tricks will surely enable you to concoct a very fair trick on these lines.
Now, here is a trick of a different kind, one which is quite complete in itself. The inventor is unknown to me and I have not been able to discover his name. In common with some other conjurers I have always been under the impression that Mr. Claude Chandler invented this trick, but he tells me that he is not the inventor and he does not know by whom the trick was originated.
The effect is quite simple and not difficult to obtain. The conjurer comes forward with a small piece of brown paper in his left hand. He shows both sides of it, rolls it into a tube and pours water into the tube. To the surprise of the audience the water remains in the tube. The conjurer puts two fingers into the lower end of the tube and draws out a quantity of coloured paper ribbons, perfectly dry; when all the ribbons are on the table there is quite a little mound of them. The conjurer afterwards unrolls the paper and throws it on one side, showing that it is not prepared in any way for the trick.
That is the trick known as the Aquarius tube, but most conjurers would naturally wish to extend it by producing flags from the paper ribbons, and this would not be a difficult matter.
In order to do this trick a small metal tube, closed at both ends, with a hole in one end is required. The tube is about the height of a pony glass, with a slightly smaller diameter. When the trick was first invented the tube was made in the form of an "unspillable" ink-well. (See illustrationA.) Thus, when the water was poured in (in a way which I will describe presently) there was no risk that the water would run out even if the tube was inverted. The tube in that form was "safe," but a little too safe, because of the difficulty of emptying it after a performance; it had to be shaken vigorously to clear it of water.
Mr. Harry Leat, therefore, improved the tube. (See illustrationB.) It will be seen that in the improved tube there is a short length of a very small tube attached to the hole in the top of the tube, and in order to facilitate the task of emptying the tube there is a hole at the other end; this hole is closed during the performance of the trick by an india-rubber plug. It will be noticed that in both tubes the base is not flush with the lower edge, but is fastened about half an inch from the edge. Thus, there is space at the bottom of the tube for a small coil of paper ribbons. (The rubber plug comes in the centre of the coil.)
If a small quantity of water is poured into this tube it can be inverted without any fear of the water running out, but, of course, if too much water is used and the tube is turned upside down a small quantity of water is bound to escape. For myself, I see no object in turning the tube upside down. After the conjurer has made a tube of paper and has poured water into it and has shown that the water does not run out from the other end, I do not see that he gains anything by turning the tube upside down. (It will be understood, of course, that the metal tube is secretly introduced into the paper tube. I am coming to that.)
Having poured the water into the tube the conjurer makes one or two mystic passes over it and then pulls out the paper ribbons; directly these have been well started they will uncoil and fall from the tube in a heap on the table.
How does the conjurer manage to get rid of the "fake" containing the water? By camouflage. The "fake" tube is painted to match the ribbons. When the ribbons have been produced the conjurer holds up a handful near the end of the tube and calls attention to their colours. He then lets the tube slide down out of the paper tube behind the ribbons and puts the lot on the table again. The "fake," being the same colour as the ribbons, is not noticed. If the conjurer has two or three handkerchiefs on the table to act as a pad he can let the tube fall down on the table, but he must bring the end of the paper tube as near to the table as possible when the metal "fake" is to fall, otherwise there will be an audible "thud."
The "fake" is introduced into the paper tube in a very simple manner. The piece of brown paper should be about fifteen inches square. The conjurer holds this in his left hand with his fingers behind the paper and thumb in front of it. Unknown to the audience the conjurer is holding the "fake" behind the paper. In order to show both sides of the paper the conjurer brings up the free end with his right hand until it reaches the left thumb, which then takes it. At the same time he releases the end which he has been holding with his left thumb and that end naturally falls down. The audience have seen both sides of the paper, but the "fake" is still behind the paper in the left hand. This "move" is quite a natural one, and is very easy; if the conjurer will try it in front of a mirror he will see that it is also deceptive.
The conjurer, using both hands, now rolls the paper round the tube and finally holds the tube near the lower end in his left hand; it is as well to extend the little finger under the paper tube to prevent the "fake" from falling.
The water should be poured into the paper tube in a thin stream. The quantity of water required must be ascertained by experiment. The conjurer then makes a few mystic passes below and over the tube with his right hand, puts two fingers into the lower end of the tube and starts the ribbons; they will fall at once into a heap on the table. I should mention that before loading the "fake" with the coil the outer ribbon on the coil should be torn; if it is not the end of the falling ribbons will be a ring of paper, which will look suspicious. The centre end of the coil should also be pulled out half an inch, so that the conjurer does not have to fumble to get hold of it.
If the conjurer wishes to produce flags at the end of the experiment he can have them in a bundle in a "well" in the table, and then all he has to do is to pick up some of the ribbons with his left hand, at the same time getting his thumb into a wire loop round the bundle. Then he breaks the thread tied round the bundle and carries on to the end of the trick.
In this trick the conjurer fills a tumbler or goblet with water and drops in a number of links from a chain. (A small brass curtain chain which has been pulled to pieces answers well for the trick.) The conjurer "fishes" into the tumbler with a long buttonhook and gets hold of one of the links; all the others come with it, because the links are joined together.
Here we make use of what is known as a "mirror" glass. A thick cut-glass tumbler is divided in the centre by two pieces of looking-glass cemented together. The glass is held in the left hand with one side of the mirror facing the audience; hidden in the compartment behind the mirror is a short length of chain. Having filled the glass with water the conjurer puts it down on the table for a moment while he draws attention to the separate links. He picks up the mirror-glass with his left hand and drops in all the separate links into the front compartment of the glass. (The water helps to disguise the presence of the mirror in the glass.) Then the conjurer brings his right hand over to the glass, takes it in that hand and immediately brings his hand right round to his right. Thus he has turned the glass round without having apparently done anything out of the ordinary; the audience see what they believe to be the separate links in the glass. The conjurer then takes the glass with his left hand, the fingers, being in front of the glass, help to hide the mirror. Then—well, the rest is easy! Directly the chain has been taken out the conjurer should put the glass down behind some piece of apparatus on the table; the audience cannot be permitted to gaze at it for any length of time.
You have seen the toy milk cans in a shop? By having two of these "faked" in the way shown in the illustrations you can compose two or three little tricks. I have already explained a trick in which one of the cans can be used.
It will be seen that if water is placed in one of the cans and the can is held with the faked side downwards the can can be shown to be empty, because the water will not run out, but if the can is held with the faked side uppermost the water can be poured out. Of course, the audience cannot be permitted to have a very close view of the interiors of the cans.
Here is one way of using two of these cans in a trick. Have one loaded with water and the other empty. Show the audience that both are empty and put them down on the opposite sides of your table. Pour water into the can which really is empty and command it to pass to the other can. You can then make the water travel invisibly back to the first can.
In the course of your "patter" you will probably not miss the chance of talking about the milk cans and the other liquid which is sometimes supposed to be put into milk—an old joke, but one which audiences almost seem to expect.
For this trick you require two large aluminium drinking cups just alike. One of them is filled with water and is then closed with an india-rubber cap (procurable at any conjuring shop). Gummed on to this cap are little bits of newspaper. The cup is then hidden in a box of pieces of newspaper.
Come forward with the empty cup in your hands and fill it with the paper by dipping it into the box. Add a handful of paper with the left hand and then tip the lot back into the box. Repeat the movements. At the third attempt leave the empty cup hidden in the box of waste paper and get hold of the cup filled with water. Add a little more paper to the top of this cup with the left hand and then remove one or two pieces; this helps to convince the audience that the cup is really filled with loose bits of paper. Close the lid of the box and stand the cup on it. Cover the cup with a small thick silk handkerchief.
In removing the handkerchief you can easily "nip off" the rubber cover with the thumb, and you leave it hidden in the handkerchief while you pour the water out of the cup.
By having two boxes—or one larger one—the trick can be repeated, but it would not be advisable to produce water from both cups. Let the second production be a surprise. If you are performing to children you can have no better production than sweets, which, of course, you give away.
This trick is also performed with specially prepared cups with lids. The cups in the boxes are closed with other lids (flush with the top), and thus when they are brought up out of the boxes some loose paper is on the top of each of the secret lids and the cups appear to be full of paper. The "visible" lid is then put on to each cup, and when these lids are removed they bring away with them the secret lids and the little paper which was on the top of them. Then the real contents of the cups are produced.
For this trick I use an old piece of apparatus known to conjurers as the "coffee vase," and I mention it here because my method of using it differs from that usually employed.
The vase is a tall, straight one on a foot; it is usually made of polished tin. There is a separate metal lining to this vase; this lining is of the shape shown in the illustration. It will be seen that the bottom of the lining does not come down to the bottom of the vase, and that the outside part of the lining goes over the outside of the vase and extends to the whole length of the vase. Therefore, it is impossible to tell, from looking at the outside of the vase, whether the lining is inside or whether the vase is what you say it is—an empty vase.