PAPER STRETCHER

There is an old gag of sending the new kid in the neighborhood to find a paper stretcher. Everyone knows you can't stretch paper. It will tear. In this trick we show how to get a half dollar through a hole in a piece of paper, even though the hole is only exactly as big as a quarter.

All you need in this trick is a half dollar and a piece of paper in which you cut a hole just the size of a quarter. You can use any other two coins, as long as they are obviously of different sizes.

Show the piece of paper and the coin, and ask if anyone can get the coin through the hole without tearing the paper. It might be a good idea to have several pieces of paper prepared with the hole cut in them.

The trick is to fold the sheet of paper in half, then lay the coin inside it at the hole; if you bend the two doubled corners up toward the center, as shown in the illustration, the coin will fall through the hole.

MAGIC COUNTING BLOCK

This trick shows a magic block that can answer questions. You will need a baby's wooden block with holes drilled into it and some string. The holes should be drilled at sharp angles and meet inside the block. Thread a string through the block, and tie a loop at each end.

When the string is held tightly, up and down, one end in each hand, the block will not move. When you loosen it just a tiny bit, the block will slide down the string.

Practice with it until you are able to make the block slide or stop, but so no one can notice that you are controlling it.

Now tell your audience that you have a smart block. Not a bright smart block, but just an average smart block. It is only smart enough to count up to ten: It can do any arithmetic problem where the answer is less than ten. Ask for problems. Someone may say, "How much is ten take away seven?" For an answer, the block will make three bumps down the string.

You can also tell your audience that the block can answer questions with a yes or no—one bump for yes and two for no.

EGG MAGIC

If you are going to have several friends over for supper, prepare a hardboiled egg for each, and put the eggs back into the refrigerator. Then when your friends are in the kitchen, bring out all the eggs, raw and cooked. Challenge them to tell which are raw and which are cooked.

Your patter can go something like this: "A man once told me of an easy way to tell if an egg is hard or raw. He said to throw it up against the ceiling. If it sticks, it's raw." After the laughs and comments you can add,

"But there is a more socially acceptable way to find out. Can anyone tell me?"

The way to tell is to spin each egg. If it spins smoothly and evenly, it is cooked. If it wobbles and really won't spin, it is raw.

When Columbus returned to Spain after discovering America, his detractors said it was no great feat. Anyone could have done it. In answer Columbus asked his detractors to stand an egg on end without cracking it. Many tried, but none could do it. So Columbus showed them how, and they all said, "Oh, that's easy." "Of course it's easy after someone shows you how," Columbus replied.

Ask your friends if they can stand the egg on end.

To do it, sprinkle a little salt on the table. Now stand the egg carefully on the table in the middle of the salt, and blow away the excess salt.

MAGIC PEEPHOLE

This is a trick where you look through a hole in your hand and blow a trick whistle. You will need the cardboard cores from adding machine or cash register tapes. Ask your friendly storekeeper to save some for you. This is all you will need.

Your patter can go something like this: "This is a magic peephole. Many of you have seen a peephole in a door. If you put your eye close to it you can see outside. A keyhole that goes right through a door is also a good peephole. This is a portable peephole." Hold one up and show it. "Through it you can see the whole world, in any direction." Demonstrate by looking through it. If you get a few laughs, good. In any case go right on with your story. Tell them it really is a magic peephole. You can look right through your hand. It's clearer than an X ray. Here's how it works:

Just as some people are right-handed and some left-handed, so some people are right-eyed, and some left-eyed. Most people are right-eyed. We will describe the trick as if you are right-eyed. If you are left-eyed, you'll find this trick doesn't work too well. Then you just have to switch eyes.

Hold the tube to your left eye and close your right eye. Look at some object with your left eye through the tube. Now, looking steadily with your left eye, open your right eye. Slowly bring your open right hand across the right side of your face toward the end of the tube. You will find yourself looking through a round hole in your right hand.

Have everyone in the audience try it. After they are satisfied that they can look through a hole in their hands, tell them that the tube is also a magic whistle. Ask them if they can make it whistle. They will try by blowing through the tube, and get no sound at all. Tell them then, "You can only see through it. You mustn't blow through it. To make it whistle you just blow across the top of it, like this." Hold the bottom closed and blow a sharp blast across the open end. You will get a deep loud whistle, like a tugboat or a diesel truck.

BLIND SPOT

In this trick you show that a spot on a piece of paper can be made to disappear and reappear at will. This works because there is a spot in each of everyone's eyes that is not sensitive to light and therefore cannot see.

All you need for this trick is a piece of paper and a pen.

Make two small marks about two inches apart, like an A and a B as illustrated. Tell a person to close his left eye and look only at the A, holding the paper about a foot from his face. He will of course also see the B, but he must concentrate looking only at the A. Slowly bring the paper closer to his face. At some point, the B will disappear. As the paper is moved closer the B will reappear.

This can also be done with the other eye, looking at the B this time instead of the A.

You can do this on the back of your business card, which is illustrated on page 12 at the beginning of this book.

PIN IN A BALLOON

In this trick you show that you can put a pin into a balloon and the balloon will not burst. You will need balloons, pins, and some Scotch Magic Tape. This tape is best because it is invisible when put on something and smoothed carefully.

Prepare a few balloons by blowing them up and tying them shut. Then put one or two pieces of the tape on each.

To show the trick, hold up a balloon. Tell your audience that it is now filled with solid air, and that it is kept solid by the strength of your will. Tell them that you can put pins into the balloon and it will not burst. Show this by putting the pins through the Scotch tape. Now tell them that when you relax your mental power, the balloon will burst. Then put a pin into the balloon through the rubber, and of course it will burst.

MAGIC DOLLAR BILL

In this trick you show people that they are not as fast as they think they are.

You will need a table or desk, an ordinary 6½″ envelope, and, to make it interesting, a dollar bill.

Put the dollar bill into the envelope. Ask one of your audience to hold his hand on the edge of the table with his thumb and forefinger extended over the edge and held apart. Hold the envelope so that the bottom is just between his fingers. Tell him that you will let go of the envelope, and that he is to grab it and not let it fall to the floor. If he is successful, he may keep the dollar.

You can show how it is done by yourself. Hold the envelope in one hand and drop it through the fingers of your other hand. You of course will be able to grab it. But when you drop it through another person's fingers, he can never react fast enough to grab the envelope.

JACOB'S LADDER

This is a very tricky illusion that you must not fail to make. Your audience will be fascinated by it. The trick is quite easily made in about an hour or so. When the top slat of the ladder is folded down first one way, then the other, all the other slats seem to fall down, one at a time. It is very puzzling to watch.

You will need six to ten pieces of Masonite, each about 2½″ x 3½″, with the ends sanded somewhat round. You will also need six to ten feet of cloth tape about ½″ wide, white glue, ruler, pencil, and scissors. The directions that follow seem long and complicated, but the trick is really easy to make. You should have no trouble with it.

Each slat will have three tapes as in illustration 1: one tape in the middle, and two side tapes. Each slat should be marked with a pencil so that the tapes are evenly placed on all the slats. The side tapes can be about halfway between the middle tape and the edges of the slat.

Illustration 1

Cut three pieces of tape for each slat. (The trick is even more spectacular if you use many different colors of tape.) The tapes should be at least 2" longer than the slats. A drop of glue should hold them in place.

Illustration 2

Lay the first slat on the table with the tapes on the bottom as in illustration no. 2. Fold the three tapes up and over so it looks like illustration no. 3. Lay the second slat on top of this with its tapes on the bottom as with the first slat. It should now look like illustration no. 4. Pull tapes a, b, and c so they are snug, fold them up and over the second slat and glue them in place as in illustration no. 5.

Illustration 3

Illustration 4

Illustration 5

Keep repeating this procedure to complete the ladder. The last slat will not have any of its own tapes.

The completed ladder will look like illustration 6. Put it aside over night to allow the glue to harden.

Illustration 6

To operate the trick, hold it by the top slat and let the rest hang down. Fold slat 1 all the way over and slat 2 will fall away. All the rest of the slats will follow. Then fold slat 1 all the way over in the opposite direction. All the slats will again fall away all the way down the line. Keep repeating this, first to one side, then the other.

This is really a very ancient toy invented by the Chinese. You can tell a story that it was invented by your ancient Chinese ancesters, and passed down through the generations as a family secret all the way to you.

OceanofPDF.com