I originated this presentation of an old but not any too well known principle in the spring of this year while working in the Green Room of the Madison Hotel in New York. The first magician or devotee of magic who saw it was Sidney Dreyfuss and he put up a great argument for my putting it on the market. However, I was getting a lot out of it at that spot and I know only too well how the stunt could and would be pirated and bootlegged.
Right at this moment I don’t know of more than four magicians in New York who know of this but I have run into a leak or two and know that another month or so will see it being bandied around.
The main effect is presented first and the finale comes after everything is presumed over. The finale is what clinches the whole thing in their minds and makes the stunt remembered.
Several years ago a stunt was passed around that was simply an optical illusion. It was invariably done with a pencil which the magi would shake in front of your eyes and which would apparently bend back and forth. It was held about the center or at balance point, the pencil lying parallel with the floor. Hold it between thumb and forefinger with thumb underneath, the pencil is given an easy up and down swing or shake covering a distance of about three inches.
In practice just do this over and over for about three or four minutes, letting the pencil wobble as it may. Let the arm stand still and let the wrist do the work. Keep at this until the whole action is loose, easy and regular.
The secret of why the pencil appears to bend up and down at both ends is the double action of the up and down movement of the hand combined with the loose turning action of the wrist. If you have ever watched an orchestra leader handle the baton from a side seat you can appreciate how it seems to be very pliable.
Around the clubs and nightspots where a person is playing at the tables,
the hardest angle is to crash the table and get interest. After you are there
it is entirely up to you, but any of the boys who have are willing to tell
you that approaching a table of people cold is the toughest part of this
type of work.
I used this bending stunt for that purpose but instead of the usual pencil or pen I used a glass mixing rod which is also called a swizzle stick, and used for mixing highballs and long drinks. Invariably there will be a couple or more on the table after the people there have been served.
When they had reached an impasse for a second, I’d barge in and pick up a rod and start shaking but would keep my fingers tightened on it so nothing would happen for the present. Dropping it I’d try another and this would start bending. If you have never seen a glass rod apparently bending you can’t realize how funny or odd this looks.
At this time I’d explain that the hotel was replacing the old style breakable rods with those made of pliable glass because the breakage was so high when guests would stir their drinks too hard. This got the interest and I’d drop the rod so it would bang on the table, make them realize it was glass and they would grab for it. After they had fiddled with it for a moment I’d do it once more, drop it and step away for a second.
I had a rod that had been bent in the middle. It was only about half an inch out of line but that is plenty. I was carrying it in my right trouser pocket and I’d merely bring it out, start shaking it and step back into the table. When this rod was being shaken you could not tell it was bent – having seen the first rod used in that manner. Now I’d say that I must tell them one thing. They should never stop shaking suddenly because if they did it would be right in the middle of a bend. So saying I’d stop short, they would see the bent rod and I’d drop it on the table.
This was what got the laughs without fail and only because of the surprise angle combined with the ridiculous.
Now I don’t want any of my readers to take themselves seriously on this stunt and think for a moment they are fooling anybody with it. I know damned well I never did and I’d pay a lot of money for another as good. People know or sense that the first is an optical illusion. They won’t be able to do it but it looks so weird that they will watch it for hours.
The bent rod is strictly a surprise gag but it is one they will all appreciate the most because of the tie-up with the first illusion and the fact that no one probably ever before saw a bent glass mixing rod.
Preparation of Bent Rod
The bent rod is simply made. They are all about six inches long and perhaps a quarter inch thick. Take hold of each end in your fingers and roll the center of the rod round and round in a glass flame or bunsen burner. I did mine on a gas stove. In three or four minutes the glass will get white hot at the center and it will almost bend itself. Just lay it down somewhere on metal to cool by itself. Your fingers won’t even feel warm at any time.
The only reason I’m breaking this stunt is as I said before because of the inevitable leak. I’ve been proud of it and it will be a surprise to many that I’ve been using a stunt and keeping it down since last spring.
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