1940-12-19 — Page 70

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NO Christmas party would really

be complete withbut its par lour magician. There will always come the moment when His per- formance will be eagerly welcom- ed as an ald to the general enter- tainment.

The guest who has n little re- pertoire of simple tricks of magle will be the most popular man in the room.

THE CHINA MAIL: SPECIAL, CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT DECEMBER 19, 1940:

CARDST

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 I 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 all found in daily use and require very simple. That box has a false little preparation.

ild. Between it and the real lid What they do require, of course, you will have concealed before- Is a little practice. Given that hand five or six cards, the values have and a little well-thought-out ar- and order of which 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 1 first-class trick which is tho- roughly mystifying to the 2002- dience, and which will be found remarkably easy to perform.

Taking a pack of cards, you give them a thorough shuffle and then hand the pack round to two or three members of the company

also to shuffle. That should r012- 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- fling is completed.

PALE

Regaining the cards, you them, without another glance, in a small box which is fitted with a lid. This you close. Then, with hearty thump on th- 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 bux

SLIT

CARD

CARD INSERTED

THROUGH SLIT

THE DOUBLE HANDKERCHIEF PYRAPPED AROUND CARD

you

Disappearing Card.

and picking out the top card, which the box will knock down the you display to your audience dummay hd, putting the concealed They will see with astonishment cards at the top of the pack in the that sure enough it is the seven order you have arranged them. of spades.

Thought-Reading Powers

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.

Here's an excellent card trick -- preparation You pick four

tive other for which the little

found cards from the top of the boxed that is necessary will be pack, and spread them larwise well worth while.

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 handkerchief. 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.

Once you have the card through the slit you wrap the double handkerchief completely about it, bunching the ends of the fabric so that the shape of the card can be

You can

even get plainly seen. some one to hold it, so that they can feel the card is still there.

Then, taking hold of a corner of the fabric, you bid the holder to release the card. As soon as he does so you flourish the hand- kerchief in the air.

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 maybe under the clock. And

there the card will be found.

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.

Blow Sharply!

When he indicates if you smil- paper ingly point to the slip of and ask him to read aloud what you have written on it. He does 50. "Your choice will be the five heap," he reads.

These, too, can be very simple, yet very effective.

Jumping Sixpence

Take this one of making a six- penny plece jump out from under a shilling without touching either coin. It's not nearly so difficult as it sounds, once you have the knuck, 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 fick.

it yourself.

What you do is to bend down towards the glass and blow as hard as you

can,

not but il

directly on to the shilling,

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 It is one that will cap- a penny. tivate any children in your Bu dience.

Holding up the middle finger of your left hand, you carefully bal ance on your finger tip a cigarette 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

to be. One of the three heaps, which you will carefully have ar- ranged beforehand, consists of five

cards; the second consists of the done. four Alves--the five of each suit; and

But it can.

Or rather, a duplicate, from an exactly similar pack, which you there a

What you set out to do now is have quietly "planted"

to remove the cigarette card with- good deal earlier in the evening.

out disturbing the penny. Every- A third effective little card trick which I will now describe will, if

one will declare li just cannot be out, convince properly carried

This is the way. your friends that you really pos-

the third of an ace and a pair of You just give the card a sharp sess thought-reading powers,

All you do is to put three-little

Hick, using the thumb and middle Each of the heaps, clownwards

in

And the on the table, still, of course, face That preparation

heaps of cards face

short, finger of the right hand. Then you ask al downwards. You name each card sewing two ordinary pocket hand- on the table.

would answer the description of a card will just fly right away, leav five heap. Take care, of course, ing the penny in position on the without a glance at its face, after- kerchiefs together round the edges, member of the audience to think wards showing it to the audience 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. to prove you are right. And you wide enough to take playing he chooses. If you explain, he the trick is completed.

hard enough, card, in the centre of one of them. concentrates

you are absolutely.

consists

of

twos.

Now for some tricks with coins.

(Continued on Page 15)

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