Combination effects seem very popular with most club performers, so I want to pass on such an idea which has stood me in very good stead. The basic piece of apparatus used is that excellent fire cracker in tube effect now being sold by the standard dealers in magical ware. As obtained from them, a firecracker is placed in a metal tube from whence it vanishes to be found hanging from the back of the boy stooge who assists. Before lighting it, he is told to pull out the wick a bit, and a loud explosion climaxes the feat.
In my presentation, the cracker is shown and placed in the tube which is closed. The boy is given tube to hold for the time being. The performer borrows a cigar, lights it, takes a puff or so, and vanishes it. Now, from a deck, he has the spectator who loaned the cigar take a card. A corner is torn off and retained by the person for identification. The remainder of the card is now vanished.
The performer now has the boy open the tube. The firecracker has disappeared and he dumps into the magician’s hand – the cigar. It is still warm but out, the magician saying that it is never well to have a lighted cigar and fire cracker together. He lights the cigar again, takes a puff or two, doesn’t like the taste, breaks it open. Inside is the chosen card! The spectator is given the card to match with the corner and keep as a memoir of the time he “loaned” a cigar to a magician.
Returning to the front, the performer asks the boy for the firecracker. He doesn’t know what it’s all about, but in looking around, the audience sees the cracker hanging from his back. It is taken from there and in pulling on the wick, the explosion is set off. The magician disgustedly says that the cigar was ruined, and now the firecracker so he’ll have to go on with something else.
There should be no reader who cannot follow the working with the effect as written. The cracker tube nicely holds a cigar, inside of which is, of course, a card with the corner missing. The exploding cracker is loaded on the back at the start as the boy never moves around until the finish. The vanish of the cigar may be done using one of the standard pulls for such objects, or by sleight of hand. The card is forced, it being a duplicate. The deck is dropped into the pocket and corner secured.
Taking the card from the spectator, a corner is torn off and he is given the other one. The card is now vanished. The cigar is found in the tube and then the card in the cigar. Lastly comes the business with the cracker, and you will have done a very nice, novel and always interesting effect.
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