Water Wizardry Part 9

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 quant.i.ty of water required must be ascertained by experiment. The conjurer then makes a few mystic pa.s.ses 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.

Links

In this trick the conjurer fills a tumbler or goblet with water and drops in a number of links from a chain. (A small bra.s.s curtain chain which has been pulled to pieces answers well for the trick.) The conjurer "fishes" into the tumbler with a long b.u.t.tonhook 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" gla.s.s. A thick cut-gla.s.s tumbler is divided in the centre by two pieces of looking-gla.s.s cemented together. The gla.s.s 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 gla.s.s 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-gla.s.s with his left hand and drops in all the separate links into the front compartment of the gla.s.s. (The water helps to disguise the presence of the mirror in the gla.s.s.) Then the conjurer brings his right hand over to the gla.s.s, takes it in that hand and immediately brings his hand right round to his right. Thus he has turned the gla.s.s round without having apparently done anything out of the ordinary; the audience see what they believe to be the separate links in the gla.s.s. The conjurer then takes the gla.s.s with his left hand, the fingers, being in front of the gla.s.s, help to hide the mirror. Then--well, the rest is easy! Directly the chain has been taken out the conjurer should put the gla.s.s down behind some piece of apparatus on the table; the audience cannot be permitted to gaze at it for any length of time.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

{gla.s.s of water, with mirror in centre and chain on one side, then drop in separate links on other side, but pull out chain} _FRONT_

_Mirror_

_Chain_ _FRONT_

_LINKS DROPPED IN_ _CHAIN PRODUCED_

Fig. 16]

The Milk Cans

You have seen the toy milk cans in a shop? By having two of these "faked" in the way shown in the ill.u.s.trations you can compose two or three little tricks. I have already explained a trick in which one of the cans can be used.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

{special can with angled part.i.tion so that when water is poured in it won't come out unless turned around} _Part.i.tion_

_SECTION OF CANS_

_EMPTY_

_WATER_

Fig. 17]

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 pa.s.s 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.

Water from Waste Paper

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.

Cotton Wool to Water

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 ill.u.s.tration. 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration:

_COVER_

_VASE_

_FAKE_

Fig. 18]

There is also a cardboard cover which fits over the vase, a little metal cup, acting as a lid, which fits loosely into the top of the lining, and a lid with a k.n.o.b for a handle which fits closely into this secret cup or lid. The secret lid has a little cotton wool placed on it.

This is the usual way of working the trick. The lining, with its "secret" lid on the top of it, is placed inside the cover and stood upon the table. The conjurer shows the vase, and as at the moment it is free from preparation he can rattle his wand inside it and show that it is really empty. He then fills it with cotton wool, taking care to put in the wool in little pieces and not pressing it down. He then "explains"--and I ask you to remember that this is not my way of presenting the trick--that the original way of doing the trick was by covering the vase with a cardboard cylinder. He puts on the cover and so gets the lining into the vase. The lining, of course, has been previously filled with coffee, or milk, or water, or some other liquid; the bottom of the lining presses down the cotton wool in the vase into a very small compa.s.s.

Now, when the conjurer removes the cover the audience see the pieces of cotton wool at the top of the secret lid on the lining, and apparently no change has been made. The conjurer goes on to explain that the modern method of doing the trick consists in merely putting "this little lid"

on the cotton wool. (Cotton wool, is easily compressible, and there is sufficient s.p.a.ce between the bottom of the lining and the bottom of the vase for all the cotton wool which was placed loosely in the vase.) Naturally, when the conjurer takes off the lid he brings away inside it the secret lid and the little pieces of cotton wool which were on that lid, and he can pour out any liquid which was in the "lining" to the vase.

Every trick has its weak point, and it seems to me that the weak point of that version of the trick is found by the audience when they realise that they are not permitted to see that the cover is empty before it is placed over the vase. I admit that the appearance of the vase is not altered in any way after the cover has been removed. The exterior is just the same and the audience see the little pile of cotton wool at the top. Still, I have never liked that method.

I dispense with the secret lid or cup to the lining and, therefore, with the "visible" lid to it. At the commencement of the trick I have the inner lining, nearly filled with water, in the vase, and the cover empty. I begin by showing that the cover really is empty, and to show that it fits over the vase I drop it over the vase and lift it off again. I replace the cover and then, as a kind of afterthought, say: "I never showed you the vase; of course, there is nothing in that." This time, when taking off the cover I take off the inner lining by pinching the cover tightly and leave it for a moment hidden in the cover. Then I fill the vase with cotton wool and put on the cover. The audience have seen the cover empty and they have seen the empty vase filled with cotton wool. Of course, when I take off the cover I can at once pour out the water.

It is advisable to have the cover made of tin. When you are putting a cardboard cover with the metal lining inside it over the vase it is not an easy matter to prevent the lining from knocking against the top of the vase, and if you are performing at close quarters the audience may hear the "c.h.i.n.k" of metal against metal. You get over that difficulty by having the cover made of tin.

If you want to raise a laugh easily at the close of this trick you can pretend to overhear someone say that the water is not real water. You at once pour some into a cup and throw it--apparently--over the heads of the audience, but instead of a shower of water they get a shower of confetti.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Part.i.tion_

{special cup with part.i.tion, holding confetti on one side. water is poured in other side but drains through hole into hollow saucer} _Confetti_