Insert first two fingers of left hand between the same ropes but under right hand. Grasp two lower ropes A and B firmly with these two fingers, as in Figure 38.

The knots in the ropes should be far enough away from your neck to do this comfortably.

"Then he knew he would have to call on his magic power to aid him. He let out a yell that startled the king and then he uttered slowly some startling syllables which neither he nor the king knew. And then he gave the ropes a jerk."

Jerk ropes and, as you do so, spread the two ropes apart into loops, as illustrated in Figure 39. The illusion is that the ropes came right through the neck in the form of these loops. The audience thought you put the ropes around your neck and tied them together, thus forming these loops. Now when the ropes come off your neck in the form of these loops, the audience is convinced that you did put the ropes around in this manner and they are puzzled beyond words.

"And the magician was free—the ropes as solid as before. The king fell dead, the magician became king and lived happily ever after."

NOTE: This effect may be presented without patter if desired, especially if it is presented with other rope effects.

6. THE MAGIC ORANGE

This is a very interesting little experiment, similar to that performed by John Mulholland and Milton Smith, worked on the same principle as the three preceding effects. When smoothly performed and clothed with a little story, it makes an excellent trick for parlor, club, or stage.

EFFECT:

An orange with a hole punched through the middle is threaded onto two pieces of tape, each about four feet long. Tapes are tied in a single knot around the orange, and two spectators are requested to hold the ends of the tapes. At a command from the performer the orange falls from the tapes into his hands. The tapes remain stretched between the two spectators holding it and the orange is in the same condition as it was at the beginning of the effect.

PARAPHERNALIA:

1--Two pieces of tape, each about four feet long and 1/4 or 3/8 of an inch wide.

2--A bodkin or large needle into which you can thread tape and push it through orange.

3--An orange or apple. You may use either.

SECRET AND PATTER:

To Perform:

Spread out one piece of tape and on top of it lay the other piece, end to end, as in illustration 1, Figure 40. Tie a piece of thread around the middle of both tapes. Double back the top piece and double under the bottom piece. You now have the two ends of one tape AA together and the two ends of the other tape BB together, as illustrated in 2, Figure 40.

Thread BB on a bodkin that is at least four inches long. Fold tapes so that they lie in a heap on table. Be careful to have joining of tapes away from audience. See 3, Figure 40.

Have orange fixed with hole through middle, about a quarter of an inch in diameter. This hole can be made with a pointed lead pencil or a spike.

To perform:

Come forward with orange.

"I suppose most of you are familiar with fairy stories. Have you heard the story or legend about the Magic Orange? In a far away country lived a great Prince and every year he held a great fair to which farmers brought their choicest fruits for exhibit. The finest fruit was selected from this exhibit for the beautiful Princess. At this

particular exhibit, a great prize was to be given for the choicest orange in all the land." Show the orange and give it to a spectator to examine.

"I shall use this orange for the experiment. I have made a hole through it with a pencil. Examine it if you

will, sir. The reason for the hole is that it was customary to thread ribbons through the choicest of fruit so that it could be hung up and it would not be necessary for anyone to touch the fruit in examining it."

Take back the orange. Now thread it onto the tapes by pushing the bodkin through the hole in the orange, as in Figure 41. If you have no bodkin, push ends of tape through with a lead pencil.

When you pick up tapes from table, be sure that joining is well covered with left hand. See Figure 42 for correct position.

Draw the tapes through the orange with right hand until the joining is in center of orange, as illustrated in Figure 43.

I have two ways of doing the threading of the orange. One way is to pick up tape with joining covered by left hand and come down towards audience while threading orange. The other way is to bring the orange to the table in left hand, pick up bodkin with right hand and thread orange, letting the joining of the tapes remain on the table. Then I pick up the tapes at the joining with left hand and pull tapes through with right hand until joining is in center of orange. If orange is held in front of tapes, they can be drawn into orange without joining being seen even if it is not covered by left hand.

Practice ANGLES OF VISIBILITY on this before your mirror.

Remove bodkin from tapes.

"So I will thread the orange on these tapes and have it held up so that all can see it. To make it doubly secure, I will tie a knot around the orange."

Take one end of Tape A and one end of Tape B and tie a single knot with these two ends, reversing their direction. Thus your left hand now holds AB instead of AA and your right hand holds AB instead of BB, as illustrated in Figure 44. (I explained the reason for doing this in the first effect, Coats, Tapes and Rings.)

 

Now hold orange up high.

"And so it came to pass that this fine orange won first prize. When the man came forward to claim it, the peasants were indignant, for they said, 'This man has no orchard. He is a thief. He has stolen our fruit and exhibited it.' Then many peasants claimed it as their own. Now, fortunately, the Prince was a Magician so he put a magic charm on the orange."

Now you request the assistance of two men from the audience.

"I would like to have two gentlemen to assist me so that I can find the owner of the fruit with the magic charm. Thank you, just come forward, and you also, sir. (To one). Just hold these two ends. (To other). And you, Sir, hold these two ends. Hold ends tight and do not drop them."

The men are each given two ends to hold. The audience can see the orange suspended from the tapes between the men. You stand behind the orange.

"According to the legend, the Prince said that the orange could not be removed from the ribbons by anyone but the rightful owner—that if the real owner of the orange would touch it, it would fall into his hand. One by one the peasants came forward and touched the orange, but it remained securely on the ribbons. Then came forward a young man from whose orchard the orange has really been stolen. He held his hand under the orange thus."

Hold right hand about a foot beneath the orange. Figure 45.

"Now, gentlemen, pull hard on the tapes."

When assistants pull hard, the thread holding the two tapes together breaks. The orange falls into your right hand, which is beneath it ready to catch it. The tapes are stretched out straight between the two assistants, as in Figure 46.

"And just as the Prince Magician said, when the rightful owner came the orange magically dropped from the ribbons into his hand."

Take tapes from the gentlemen and thank them. They go back to their seats.

"The moral of which is—Some people claim to be movie actors, but the nearest they get to Hollywood is eating oranges that come from there."

7. WALKING THROUGH TAPES

This is an effective version of the double rope principle and coupled with showmanship it is very puzzling.

EFFECT:

Two long tapes are freely shown and passed up under a gentleman's coat and behind him. One of the tapes is tied in a single knot in front of him to secure him still further. The ends of ropes are given to two spectators to hold, one standing at left, and other at right of gentleman who is bound. The latter is told to walk backwards with the result that the tapes instead of being behind him are now stretched in front. He has apparently walked through the two tapes.

PARAPHERNALIA:

Two long pieces of tape, each about ten feet long.

TO PREPARE:

Have tapes fixed with thread through center similar to tapes in the magic orange effect. Fold tapes back on themselves so as to form the fake joint. Place tapes on table or suit case (if you use one for performing) with fake joints concealed from audience.

SECRET AND PATTER:

To Perform:

Pick up tapes and in doing so cover the fake joint with the left hand. Allow ends of rope to fall to floor. It is easy to convince audience that you hold but two harmless pieces of tape.

Invite three gentlemen to come up and assist you.

Address the one who looks the best natured and say,

"Pardon my asking sir, but are you much of a walker? Do you take an interest in walking or would you rather ride? Most of us would. I ask this because I am going to perform an odd walking experiment. Perhaps one of the oddest you have ever encountered. I got the idea from Teddy Roosevelt. I will ask you to face the audience while I pass these two tapes behind you."

The other two assistants should be standing one at the right and another at the left. The left side of stage is to your left when you face audience.

Stand at right side of gentleman who is to be the walker and pass left hand up under his coat and behind his back, then reach around him with right hand and take tapes.

Address gentleman to left side of walker.

"Will you be kind enough to take these two ends of the tapes and hold them tightly?"

Give him the two ends in your right hand.

Address gentleman at right.

"And I will have you take these other two ends."

Release fake joint held with left hand and run hand along tapes so you can easily present the two other ends to spectator helping you.

Study diagram 47 and you will readily see position of ropes as held by assistants.

The two gentlemen on each side should be far enough away so as to take in the slack in tapes and yet not pulling hard enough to break the thread in joint. Audience should be readily able to see that man in middle stands in front of the ropes.

"Now gentlemen each of you holding the tapes, give me an end of any one that you are holding and for safety we will wrap our friend, the walker, up in the rope and tie it securely around him."

Take an end from each gentleman, tie a single knot in front of the walker and give back the opposite ends to the assistants from what they originally held. We discussed the principle thoroughly in the "boys, coats and rings."

"Gentlemen, please hold the ropes securely. Note carefully how matters stand. Two ropes extend BEHIND the gentleman in the middle and for extra good luck we tied him in one of them. but still it runs around in back of him."

To gentleman in center.

"When I say 'One—two—three—WALK' I want you to step backwards two or three steps." To men holding the tapes.

"And when you hear me say WALK I want you to pull hard. Hold onto the tapes and pull. Are you ready gentlemen?"

You should be standing a little to the right of walker and behind tapes. You can get to the position by walking around assistant on right side of stage. The main idea, of course, is to stand so you do not obstruct the view of the trick.

"It is said of Teddy Roosevelt that when he went walking he would often set out in a straight line and hew to the line in spite of obstacles. He would go over fences and through houses. But Teddy had nothing on the gentleman here. I'll show you a walker. One--two--three--WALK."

Man walks backwards, men on ends pull, thread breaks and tapes come out stretched in front of the walker.

"See, the gentleman has walked right through the tapes." To walker.

"I congratulate you, sir. You are an excellent walker. No sense going around a block when you can cut right through, is there?"

Take tapes from other two gentlemen.

ANOTHER TAPES RELEASE

Effects with this tape principle are practically endless, and a bit of thought will show you new ways of working. An effective way is to have tapes prepared with thread and folded back on each other so as to form fake joint. Then place tapes under a man's coat (joint behind his back) and bring the tapes around in front and tie a single knot. Tapes are then threaded through each sleeve. A ring is placed in each of the gentleman's hands and tapes threaded through each ring, respectively. A single knot is made with a tape from each side, and ends given to two spectators to hold. See Figure 48.

Upon pulling tapes they free themselves and become stretched out before gentleman in middle. If thread does not easily break just reach up under coat and break it.

Another way is first to thread rings on tapes then go through the routine above. Performer reaches up under coat and removes rings then has tapes drawn out. All this is done while gentleman is wearing his coat.

The Japanese magicians have a way of doing the tape release in which several persons are threaded on the tapes. In their hands the effect is very puzzling.

LESSON 8

1--A piece of red tissue paper about twelve inches square is examined and rolled into a ball. This is given to a spectator to hold. Performer now asks several members of the audience to write any numbers of three digits each on a card. Another spectator is requested to add these and call out the total. Performer then says he will transfer this number to the ball of tissue paper. The ball is unrolled and there is found the number called out.

2--A piece of examined paper is placed in an empty envelope by a member of the audience. The envelope is sealed and given to a spectator to hold. Performer takes a card and writes on it numbers called out by several spectators. These are added together. Envelope is torn open and the numbers of the sum are found to be cut out of the paper.

3--Two envelopes are shown empty. On one is written the word Bank. Performer borrows a dollar bill, telling owner to remember number on it, and puts bill in the envelope marked Bank. He gives this envelope to a spectator to hold. Magician writes a check for a dollar, places it in the other envelope, and gives this to another spectator. Performer shows how rapid banking can be done and checks cashed without bothering anyone. The two envelopes are opened and the check and the bill are found to have changed places.

TARBELL SYSTEM, INCORPORATED, Chicago.