14.
NO Christmas party would really be complete without its pur- Jour magician. There will always come the moment when his per- formance will be eagerly welcom- ed as an aid to the general enter- tainment.
The guest who has a little re- pertoire of simple tricks of magic will be the most popular man in the roon.
THE CHINA MAIL SPECIAL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT, DECEMBER 19, 1940.
CARDS.
COINS
The tricks can be of the sim- plest kind--indeed, the less cla- borate they are the more the bewilderment and the greater the fun. Those 1 am going to des- cribe here have all been chosen because they require no other articles of apparatus than those It's very baffling, and yet found in daily use and require little preparation.
all
very simple. That box has a false lid. Between it and the real Ild What they do require, of course,
you will have concealed before- is a little practice. Given
hand five or six cards, the values that, and a little well-thought-out ac- and order of which you have companying patter, the tricks I memorised. The thump you give have selected will be found very effective indeed.
Let us start with cards. Here's at fist-class trick which is the- roughly mystifying to the au- dience, and which will be found remarkably easy to perform.
Taking a pack of cards, you give them a thorough shuffle and then hund the pack round to two or three members of the
company also to shuffle. That should con- Vince everyone that it is impossi- ble for you to have the slightest idea where any particular card is placed in the pack when the shuf- flog is completed.
pizt
SLIT
CARD
CARD INSERTED THROUGH SLIT
THE DOUBLE HANDKERCHIEF WRAPPED AROUND CARD
By Bruce Keane
What you are going to do is to make a card disappear. You ac- cordingly display to your au- dience a card you have already selected, and then place it under the double handkerchief.
Your audience, of course, does not suspect for an instant that it is any other than an ordinary single bandkerchief. Nor, if you do it adroitly enough-as you will with a little practice-will they notice you slip the card through the slit, which is on the underside of the double handkerchief.
wrap
Once you have the card through the slit you
the double handkerchief completely about it, bunching the ends of the fabric so that the shape of the card can be plainly seen. You can even get some one to hold it, so that they can feel the curd is still there.
Then, taking hold of a corner of the fabric, you bid the holder to release the card. As soon he does so you flourish the hand- kerchief in the air.
Regaining the cards, you them, without another glance, in a small bux which is fitted with a Jid. This you close. Then, with a hearty thump on the top of the box you announce that you know quite well what the top card of the pack is "It's the seven of spades." you say with assurance, at the same time opening the box and picking out the top card, which you display to
your audience. They will see with astonishment cards at the top of the pack in the there the card will be found.
that sure enough it is the seven of spades.
Thought-Reading Powers
or five
other
Disappearing Card.
the
the box will knock down dummy lid, putting the concealed
order you have arranged them.
And all you have to do is to pick them from the box one at a time and announce their values--with your eyes shut, if you like.
as
The card will seem to have van- ished entirely. Throwing the handkerchief down
apparently carelessly but in a spot where it will escape examination--you then ask someone to look, say, under the hearthrug or in a drawer, or
the maybe under
clock. And
you
Or rather, a duplicate, from an exactly similar pack, which
there a have quietly "planted" good deal earlier in the evening.
A third effective little card trick
and CORKS
will be able to tell him just what heap he has in mind.
a
While he is in the throes of con- centration you let your audience see you scribble something on piece of paper with a pencil. Then you ask the man who has been concentrating just which heap he has had in mind.
Those, too. can be very simple, yet very effective.
Jumping Sixpence
Take this one of making a six- penny piece jump out from under a shiling without touching either coin. It's not nearly so difficult as it sounds, once you have the knack, and a little practice will soon give you that.
You take an empty wine-glass, drop the sixpence into it, and the shilling on top. You challenge any of your audience to get the sixpence without touching either of the coins or the glass itself.
It's a challenge that won't be taken up. Then you proceed to do
Just a flick.
it yourself. What you do is to bend down towards the glass and blow as hard as you can, not directly on to the shilling, but H little to one side.
And to the surprise of everyone the shilling will spin over, and as it does so flick the sixpence into the air and out of the glass.
Quite simple, too, after you have practised it, is this little trick with a penny. It is one that will cap- tivate any children in your au- dience.
Blow Sharply! When he indicates it you smil- and ask him to read aloud what ingly point to the silp of paper
Holding up the middle finger of you have written on it. He does 60. "Your choice will be the five your left hand, you carefully bal- ance on your finger tip a cigarette heap," he reads.
card. On top of that you place a You then direct him to turn penny, taking care to ensure that over the heap he has selected. He it is resting absolutely centrally is startled to find it is a five heap. over the finger tip.
The truth is that it was bound What you set out to do now is to be. One of the three heaps, to remove the cigarette card with- which you will carefully have ar- out disturbing the penny. Every- cards; the second consists of the done. four lives-the five of each suit; and the third of an ace and a pair of
Here's an excellent card trick which I will now describe will, if ranged beforehand, consists of five one will declare it just cannot be
preparation found
You pick four
for which the little cards from the top of the boxed that is necessary will be pack, and spread them fanwise well worth while:
on the table, still, of course, face downwards. You name each card without a glance at its face, after- wards showing it to the audience to prove you are right. And you are absolutely.
twos.
You just give the card
properly carried out, convince your friends that you really pos-
But it can. This is the way. sess thought-reading powers.
a sharp All you do is to put three little
flick, using the thumb and middle That preparation consists of heaps of cards face downwards Each of the heaps, in short, Anger of the right hand. And the sewing two ordinary pocket hand- on the table. Then you ask a would answer the description of a card will just fly right away, leav- kerchiefs together round the edges, member of the audience to think five heap. Take care, of course, ing the penny in position on the and then cutting a neat slit, just hard about any one of the heaps to shuffle up the cards as soon as tip of your finger. wide enough to take 1 playing he chooses. If you explain, he the trick is completed. card, in the centre of one of them. concentrates hard enough, you Now for some tricks with coins.
(Continued on Page 15)
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