THE CHINA MAIL, JULY 21, 1987.
When the magician tricks the audience that's expected. But
WHEN THE TRICKER
Milbourne Christopher is f young American margician who has been performing in "London."
1- Hore he writes about some of the things which surprise the men Whose job is ΤΟ Burprise the audience.
IZV
–
I was in the midst of the ball trick when a huge Frenchman ap- proached our table, and, looking over my shoulder, began to watch. changed one ball into two, two into four and finally four into six.
The modern magician, shrewd By some strange quirk of fate With a mumbled word of French the psychologist though he may be, can the chairman confused the
confused the idents- never really be sure how his au- ties of the two celebrities, and dience will take him and his tricks. troduced Mulholland as the lectur-
Producing a bowl of flaming fire er. might be appreciated in the music-
Mulholland began his routine of
stranger reached down and picking squeezed it into up one of the balls s his right hand, opened his hand and disclosed a lit cigarette.
My eyebrows, I am told, shot up în amazement. He puffed on the ci- garettte, dropped it to the floor, then reaching up produced another
one.
TENDER-HEARTED spectafor in the Shawsville Theatre leaped upon the stage where a wo- man was "being sawn in two," and ran a property sword through the magician's back.
A New York professor, outraged because a former pupil had baffled him with a magic trick, sprang up in the audience and hurled a book at the offender's head,
IS
TRICKED
Thimbles appeared and halls, but the same trick perform tricks. ed in the Ritz would provoke only disappeared on his out stretched haughty stares.
fingers, solid steel rings linked and unlinked, and a tiny yellow canary momentarily secure in its
this the
There is a bright side to business of fooling most of people most of the time.
John Mulholland, the famous ma- gician (who, incidentally, was the Happily, though, the conjurer target for the book-tossing teach- who was stabbed soon recoverd, er), once shared the spotlight at an and luckily the peeved professor entertainment with an equally not- was a poor shot.
THE
ed lecturer.
WORLD GOES BY By "ULYSSES"
were asked to give advice toy To
young men
be entitled
"A
going to Hong Moan."
Kong, I should say something like
this:
You can, after being punctual and Servants diligent during business hours,
metal cage suddenly vanished in
thin air.
The audience was delighted." They had known that one magician›“, was to appear on the programme, but to have the other entertainer turn out to be a magician also ah, that was almost too much.
The other celebrity fired badly.
He gave an interesting speech, but all through it the audience was expectantly waiting for him to pull a rabbit from under his coat!
:
A famous magician vanished one Journalist's night, suddenly and inexplicably from the stage" on which he per- formed. The audience, dazed by his unheralded, hence unexpected disappearance, sat motionless for a tense-second, then broke into tu- 'multuous applause. Seconds "passed, bro- then minutes. Finally, the magi- doesn't cian appeared from the wings to
has acknowledge their plaudits.
** **
A marvellous trick? Hardly, for
Then he paused and looked at me with a "Now you" expression. ..
By this time I had regained my professional equilibrium So I took one of the remaining balls, and.
THAT'S NEWS!
with a flick of the wrist, changed it into a mille note.
This time his eyebrows shot`up. By now everyone in the cafe® seemed to be jammed around our table, jabbering away in a variety of tongues.
Eventually someone. who spoke both French and English held a whispered conversation with the stranger, then one with me.
"Chris Then, with a flourish: meet Willardy, French magician.”
We both laughed.
And our wine disappeared simul- taneously;
apend your leisure emulating sulky When his mother (father, Achilles, be a hermit, and remit inther, son, wife, aunt, it sterling 75 per cent. of your salary, matter) in Canton more far but that way madness lies. You can- the usual affliction, and your servant į do as the Romans did, and horn takes an advance and leaves you for into every convivial occasion that awhile, you generally feel the in- happens, and wake up every morn-terruption of habit, and suffer irrita- ing with a rich yellow taste, but tions, however good the locum if the truth be known the magician that way leads past the Monument.tenens he has left. You who have who vanished was the most amazed You can join the choir and share a always been accustomed to servants person in the theatre. hymn-book, but that way tends to and the comforts of trained service. The night before a careless as- marriage. You can gamble, and and who have never known what sistant had left a trap door unlatch need not pay the brokers or your it means to fend for yourselves, can-ed. The magician by accident hað poker creditors, but that brings un- not possibly appreciate all that such stepped upon its surface. popularity. On the whole you had service means. Clothes and break- better stay where you "are. The fast and bath in the morning. Im- time, patience and perseverance (toagine preparing all for yourself. say nothing of the robust con-Boy does it. Journey. Ricksha coolie' stitution) needed to develop a young does it Tiffin. Food had to
be
there is some derangement THIS HAPPENED IN man into a successful taipan would collected, cooked, served. Pro- serve equally well to make him an ducers, marketers, cooks and waiters. A FRENCH CAFE
re-You go. bathing. Engineers, stok-
M.P., and each is about as spectful as t'other.
Not Novel
ers, fitters, coxswains. You phone
Hence his sudden departure from view.
for a car. The chauffeur waits and Luckily the audience was caught waits and waits. The waiters wait.unawares, and they accepted his An army has waited on you and for mishap as a routine mystery, and you. Ever think about it?
responded accordingly!
* * **
"Big Ben was striking ten. The A Dancing
darkness by Westminster was sólid.
As the tram came from the Em Story
bankment, the
Well, you
that he
Meanwhile, the performer had scrambled to his feet, hastily brushed the dust from his clothes and hurried as fast as his shaky legs could carry him up to the stage to take his bow.
The time
know the sort of thing I mean, and It must not be mentioned where you swallow it when you find it in in Hong Kong this happened. He a book. Why not in a newspaper? was complaining to her "His watch indicated 7.15, so he found the floor too slippery for danc- The place: Paris. knew that it must be 4.40. Raining. "It's hard to keep on your feet, Three o'clock in the morning. The dripped drearily in Wyndham Street, said he. "I don't want you to keep scene: A cafe in Montmartre. and the sky was leaden. The city on my feet," she said. "I didn't was doing a few pocket tricks for humpert outside But inside all was say anything about it before befriends at our table. Tricks with peace. The paper was out. Why cause I thought you did it accident-five franc pieces, wine glasses and the devil shouldn't he go home? ally:
Itiny rubber balls.
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