MIRTH AND MAGIC.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 29, 4 February 1928, Page 14 (Supplement)

MIRTH AND MAGIC.

AND HOW IT IS DONE.

SOME TRICKS FOR AMATEURS

STEADY NERVES WANTED,

(By JASPER MASKELYNE.)

The chief requisite for the amateur magician are steady nerves and a repertoire of parlour tricks. Tlie tricks he can easily master in private (with or without the assistance of a box of magic apparatus); the nccessary coolness and dexterity can only be gained by practice and experience. Of course, every magician must' start by getting a wand. With the aid of this, it is perfectly easy to produce the Fairy Streamer, which makes a pleasing introduction to the performance. The Fairy Streamer. Twist about- six yards of thin very bright-coloured silk ribbon loosely round the end of your wand, so that it forms a little bundle. Hold the wand by this end as you enter, with your hand hiding the ribbon. The wand should be in your right hand. Pointing with the wand, show your left hand empty. Transfer the wand with ribbon to your left hand and show the right, empty, too. Now pass the wand back again to its original position, this time L>y the free end, leaving the ball of ribbon in your closed left hand. All you need then do is to shake out the length of ribbon with a few sweeping movements. Mystifying Antics. Once you have mastered tlie magic ribbon trick, you will have no difficulty, a few minutes later, in snatching a ribbon suddenly from the air, after having shown both your hands to be empty. Hang the ribbon over the back of a chair, and take from the table by your side an ivory bracelet, a curtain ring, or any similar circle that is large and bright enough to be clearly seen by your audience. Get someone to tie both ends of the ribbon to your wrists, and take the ring in your right hand. Make a rapid turn, and then show the bracelets threaded on the ribbon, without tlie knots on your wrist being undisturbed. ° Mystifying, isn't it? This i s how it is done. Before starting the performance, slip up your arm, near the elbow, a bracelet which is an exact duplicate to the one you show to vour audience When you turn your back, slide the one quickly over your hand on to the ribbon, and drop the other unobserved into a pocket. Vanishing Pennies. l ( ew conjurers nilsg tlie opportunity to borrow something from their audiences—and there is always a good deal of fun when the borrowed objects "vanish" so that the conjurer cannot return them. Try to induce six juvenile members of your audience to lend you a penny apiebe. Place them on the baize-coloured table, and sweep them into a plate. In spite of the clatter they make, show the plate the next instant—empty. This trick cannot be played without a servante, or conjurer's bag. There are several kinds of servantes. In this case, the best would be one shaped like a small collapsible pail, held out by a wooden ring at the top. The bag should be made of the same material as the tablecloth, which will completely conceal it from the front. The ring is securely pinned to the cloth, and an empty plate is placed inside. When you hold the second plate below the table and pretend to sweep the coins into it, you actually sweep them into the servante, where they are heard to clatter upon the other one. You show the empty plate with all possible alacrity. Having allowed the shock of the lost pennies to sink well in, produce six new ones from a pocket, or, better still, pretend that the lost coins have turned into sixpences. These should be palmed beforehand and '"produced" from beneath the plate, behind the lenders' ears, and so on. The Walking Egg. For this amusing trick, the requirements are an egg and a walking stick. I he stick must have a groove a quarter of an inch wide and an eighth o-f at. inch deep, cut in it, and, in order that this may be invisible to the audience, the grove should be coloured the same as the stick. Black is best. Place the egg in the groove, and by gently tilting the stick at either end, make the egg travel backwards and forwards. The conjurer should add ,to the interest of this trick by pretending that it is extremely difficult?,. It is a good plan to fail in the first attempt—only in that case you may prefer to use a dummy egg! Scientific Tricks. These are always interesting to a youthful audience. .Everyday objects and a few inexpensive chemicals art the only materials required. First of all, try the magic jug. Fill an ordinary glass jug with water in which some red cabbage leaves have been boiled for haif an hour. The liquid will have a purple co-lour, and it Is ready for use as soon as it gets cold. Take three ordinary tumblers. Leave the first one clean. Put into the second a drop of ammonia, and into the third a drop of sulphuric acid. These preparations should, of course, be made beforehand, so that all the glasses look as if they were quite clean and empty. Now pour some of the cabbage water into each one. That in the clean glasi will keep its colour; that in the second glass will turn green, that in the third, red. A very effective trick, as all th< liquid obviously has been poured out of the same jug. Do you know how to set water on fire? Fill a saucer with water, and drop a niece of potassium (about two grains) into it. With a slight detonation the potassium will at once burst into flame and burn brightly on the surface of the water, at the same time appearing to dart from one side of tlje saucer to the other like a ball of fire. Spirit Writing. A square of ordinary glass, if written on with a quill pen dipped in a solution of powdered flourspar in sulphuric acid (flourliydric acid), will deceive the most penetrating eye; no lines of any kind and be distinguished. But the moment the glass is breathed upon, the "spirit message" will appear. The message, of course, is traced on in advance. Experience will show how long the acid should be exposed.; if left too long it will eat into the glass and the lettering will become-visible. Ordinarily, five to ten minutes is the correct time to allow the writing to dry; then the glass should be washed and well dried.

When the moisture, of breath on the glass evaporates, the writing disappears; but as soon as the breathing on the

glass is renewed, up the message comes again. Drawing as well as writing <*n be used in this way. Half-crown Trick. For this you require a glass of water, a handkerchief, a half-crown (preferably borrowed), and a glass disc exactly the same size as the half-crown. This can be obtained at a watchmaker's or oculist's.

Ask for a volunteer assistant, fill the glass with water and let the assistant hold it in his right hand. In his left, let him hold the half-crown, covered with a handkerchief.

At a word of command, tlie volunteer assistant lets the coin go, so that it may drop into the glass of water. But on examining the glass, he finds the coin has vanished.

The explanation is simple. Before beginning the trick, the magician conceals the glass disc in his hand. By holding the wand in his hand, the disc is completely hidden. ' When he pretends to wrap up the half-crown in the handkerchief, he substitutes the glass disc, palming or otherwise disposing of the coin. When the disc is dropped to the bottom of the glass it lies quite flat and is, of course, invisible.