Effects for this Jinx program that does not make use of cards in any way, are routined so as to open lightly, blend together, and finally wind up with a strong test of one man second sight, or what have you. Everything will pack easily and quickly into an ordinary suitcase, and outside of the case itself, everything won’t weigh over five or six pounds. On the spot, one needs only a small table or stand and one chair. The actual time of the setup shouldn’t exceed seven minutes. Running time of a program always depends a lot upon the individual performer, but a try-out of this routine clocked twenty-one minutes under favorable conditions. The last effect is the only one to take a bit of time, and there will be some who will want to build this up a bit with a few impressive words on telepathy.

Outside of the coin stand, which is but a long thin stand in which the coins are stood upright, the money tray, and the blackboard, everything else can be packed into a brief case or doctor’s kit. The best material for a blackboard is the very heavy type silicate which is about a quarter inch thick and has a writing surface on both of its sides. This can be cut to whatever size you like best.

The last two effects make use of this board which may be placed on the chair or a small collapsible table easel which is simply made. Use one side for the Lucky Number effect, and then turn the board over for the telepathy finale trick. For this last, have a dampened eraser ready, so the writing on board is thoroughly removed. Often a dry erasure leaves a slight trace of what has been written before, and may give your audience an idea that that is how you work.

After the first effect comes the vanish, and because of the fact that you put it in a holder the old gag of being told by your doctor to stay away from tobacco can be used. You reach for the match in your right pocket, light the match, and as you light it let the cigarette and holder go. Pretend to start lighting and then find it gone. Keep the match burning and remark that you forgot to add that your wife said to keep away from holders too. You can now extinguish the match in the well known manner of blowing up the left sleeve and flicking it out in right hand at the same time, and can finish off by saying that about the only fun you have left is lighting matches and putting them out.

You still have the handkerchief that was borrowed for the first effect, and which you dropped on the table for the vanish. Use this hank for the coin trick that follows, and after this say that you always return borrowed articles but like to show your appreciation of the trust by giving the loaner a token of esteem. This works into the ice cream cone production and subsequent gag of your keeping the cream for your little brother.

On your way back to the front, pick up another person to help you on the Seamstress trick, and time and effort is saved at this point. It has always annoyed me to see a person go back to the front and then ask for an assistant when they could just as well go back with the performer. Besides, when one is in the audience, help is always easier to get. Some people don’t like to walk up alone.

On the finale, write two of the items, the number and word, and then stop. Take off the blindfold, remark that for the picture test you would like to have the committee at a distance, and send them back to their seats. Now make the drawing, have one of the committee say “Right” or “Wrong” (the audience knows anyway) and you are through to a climax with an empty stage.

The necessary objects are:

• One Thumb Tip
• 1 Bag of Tobacco
• A book of cigarette papers
• 1 cigarette
• Kitchen matches
• Cigarette holder pull
• Coin stand
• 15 half dollars
• A standard magic money tray
• Some good magician’s wax
• An ordinary ice cream cone
• 2 pin tumbler padlocks
• 1 key for each lock
• 8 similar keys not fitting
• Packet of #2 Drug envelopes
• Some very small glass beads
• Seamstress gimmicks and hanks as per directions. (These can be made up by yourself or purchased complete from Max Holden, New York City, who manufactured it professionally after Jinx publication of the trick.)
• One two-sided blackboard as described above
• One handkerchief to be used as a blindfold

That’s all there is to the necessary things one needs for the complete act, except an audience.

Below is a list of the program effects in order, and as taken from the current and back numbers of the Jinx. The arrangement has been carefully figured and checked for best results and reaction.

The Classical Cigarette – Winter Extra 1935
A Visible Cigarette Vanisher – Jinx #16
Coins, En Route! – Jinx #14
Brr!! (meaning ‘cold’) – Jinx #16
The Spectral Seamstress – Jinx #21
Lock and Key – Jinx #34
The Lucky Number Magic Square – Jinx #16
The Mystery of the Blackboard – Jinx #01

P.S. For the ice cream cone trick, use real cones, and put on top the novelty imitation rubber cream. As you give out, take off the cream and pocket it. Say you are saving to cut the overhead.