Magic can be performed as a trick after trick, or as a presentation of strange occurrences making themselves visible through the medium of the actor.
The latter thought has been put into practice by myself and proven true. While I don’t see fit to announce that I am an actor, when in front of the paid customers, my bearing of a magician leads people to believe all that I may say regarding other magicians. This is because a magician talks to his audience whereas an actor talks away from them.
It has been quite some time since I have published material about tricks, so it should be fitting that The Jinx have first call for a routine which credits other masterly performers to the extent of presuming that they can make all of their powers apparent to those watching a “not dead yet” performer who knew and hobnobbed with them well.
This must be a performance where the magician has a stage or platform. On that platform he has two chairs, back to back in formation, with a sheet of glass across the 2 ft. space. A dummy hand rests on the glass. A side table holds a plate of ten padlocks, another plate of ten keys, and a pack of ordinary playing cards.
To his audience the magician says something like this; “My life in magic has been a much more interesting one because of an intimate acquaintance with orthodox magicians, we magi do classify ourselves, but after many years of travel and continuous effort to entertain I’ve only lately established contact with those contemporary friends who have passed beyond.”
“Houdini ? A lifetime spent in effort to subjugate locks and restraining devices to his will. Thurston ? One who made the art of stage card manipulation something to be attained by his followers. Carter ? An illusionist who sought the bridge between here and the hereafter. Tonight I want to show you how I have made up my own little bridge between where I am and where they are.”
The wonder worker asks a spectator to step forward. The plate of padlocks is dumped loudly onto another container. The performer picks up one, hands it to the spectator, and says, “You can open it ? No ! Not without a key.” He takes it back, tosses it into the pile, and picks out another which he hands the volunteer. “Try that one. Can you open it, without a key, any faster than you could have the first ?”
The magician accepts the negative reply in stride and turns to the audience, requesting and getting a second assistant. For the while he apparently forgets about the lock being held by the first man. “Here is a pack of playing cards. Thurston made a long to be remembered reputation with his smart handling of them. I want you to shuffle them as much as you please.”
The performer turns back to his first helper. He picks up the plate of keys. They are dumped into the cupped hands of this man and he is told to lay them out in a row upon the floor in front of himself. “You are holding one of the ten locks. Now you lay out ten keys in any order you please. Only one of those keys fits the lock you hold. I’ll show you that the other masters of magic control this experiment and await my joining them.”
The magician turns to the second spectator holding the shuffled deck. He takes it, lays it on the floor, has the spectator cut it at any spot, and the cut is held by placing one half crosswise upon the other.
The performer now steps back and shows the dummy hand which has been resting upon the glass plate between the chairs.
“Before Charles Carter passed away,” he says, “this very close friend of mine studied the possibilities of life after death. He was a famous trickster and knew all about the chicaneries of magical performers. Carter was my mentor.”
The performer picks up the hand and gestures with it. “Charles Carter led me to believe that there was something far beyond trickery, and I want to show you now that he may be helping me to make contact with that world in which he is living with his closest friends, Thurston and Houdini.”
The hand is placed on the glass inter-chair plate. It raps out a number. The “lock-key” spectator counts to that key — it opens the lock which he holds. Then the hand taps out the name of the card cut at by the second person. And then either of the two helpers may pick up the hand and look it over, as well as the plate of glass and two chairs. There is nothing to find, materially, for the shade of Carter has gone. With him has gone Thurston and Houdini. Only Blackstone remains.
This trick has been a matter of routining. Ted Annemann wouldn’t have wanted it but for the story and presentation.
The deep bowl of locks contains only one you must watch. With them is the card to be forced from the deck later on. First you stir the locks a bit, palming the card, and then dump the locks out. Pick up any of them (except the right one) and hand it to the spectator. Take it back with the left hand as the right picks out the correct one and gives it in return.
The immediate switch of attention to the card selection is perfect misdirection regarding the free choice of a lock. The key later is chosen by hand raps, and people remember that the spectator had more than one lock in his hand. Taking the deck from the second person the performer adds the palmed card to the top and at once puts the deck face down upon the floor. The spectator cuts it at any place, and the performer completes the cut by placing the lower half crosswise of the top half leaving it there for the present.
The performer picks up the plate of keys and tips them into the cupped hands of the man with the lock. He is told to shake them up and then lay them out in a row before himself. You watch and help with this, noting the position of the correct key. Mark it any way you choose. Mine is file notched on each side so that it can be caught quickly whichever side is up.
Remember that the audience cannot see these keys closely, and the helper is too excited to look for small file marks.
You step to the back and pick up the dummy hand. Use the patter scheme at this point. Then say, “We’ll put the hand on the glass and see what Houdini can tell us about your lock. I’m not going to ask you to name a number like two, five, ten, fourteen, etc. I’m going to leave it up to the master in the great beyond.” You have thus cued to your assistant the position of the key in the row as laid out by the spectator. The last number you have named is TWICE the position number. In this case, the assistant knows that the position is seventh (half of fourteen).
The performer walks around the chairs once, holds out his hand, and the dummy hand visibly taps out (in this case) the number seven. He asks the first man to count to that key, and try it in the lock. The lock clicks open! Approaching the second person, the performer asks him to remove the top crosswise half of the deck and pick up the top card of the lower cut. This is a tried and true force for conditions such as this where the effect is the thing and there is no time for nor sense in making a selection complicated. The audience always remembers only that the spectator shuffled the cards and then cut them at any spot.
The hand is walked around once more and this time the performer passes his hands directly across from above and underneath. He says, “I’m going to name the four suits, Howard. Make a sign through the hand when I name the one you like best.” The hand raps at one suit named. The performer continues, “Now tell us all what value you like best from Ace to King.” The hand raps a number of times. The second man shows his card. Thurston has revealed it!
And immediately, the performer asks his two helpers to pick up the hand, the glass, and move the chairs. “You don’t see Houdini, Thurston, or Carter?” he says. “Well, they’re there, and when the time comes for me to see them I’ll tell them all about the times they’ve helped me entertain my audiences the way they used to do.”
The working of the hand is all that remains to be disclosed. It is perfect for stage and platforms where it allows of the performer passing completely around it, and the passing of his hands above and below. One end edge of the glass has a tiny smooth cut slit which holds a large knotted thread.
The diagram illustrates how the thread then runs to a high point at the side and the end operated by the assistant. The hand is free at all times and placed on the thread onto the glass where a slight pull tips it to rap as desired. With the thread running as shown, the performer can walk completely around the set-up and pass the hands directly above and below the glass. At the finish he picks up the hand, and his own hand passes across under the thread which disengages the knotted end from the glass leaving everything free for inspection.
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