John Mulholland - Magic of The World

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Magic of the //orld
PUBLIC LIBRARY
FORT WAYNE AND ALLEN COUNTY, IND.
ALLEN COUNTY EXTENSION DEPT.
ANTHONY 3333
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Magic of the World
i
Magic of the World

BY JOHN MULHOLLAND
*
Illustrated by Al Hormel
Charles Scrihner's Sons • New York

Gjpyright '^
1965 John Mulholland
This book published simultaneously in the

United States of America and in Canada
Copyright under the Berne Convention
All rights reser\ed. No part of this book

mav be reproduced in anv form without the
permission of Charles Scribner's Sons.
A— 9.65[UJ]
Printed in the United States of America
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 65-21366
CO. SCHOOT5
C617657
Contents
1 • From the Beginning, 9

the story of magic through the ages
2 ' How Magic Works, 17
the ways magicians mystify people
3 • The King's Power, 23
card tricks of the gypsies
4 • Urbut, 33
an Egyptian feat of restoring a severed string
5 • She-fa Cash, 41
coin tricks from China
6 • Mental Magic, 57
a German method of sending thoughts
7 • Here, There and Everywhere, 65
making designs appear, disappear and move about
8 • Choose a Color, 75
Spanish magic with a balloon
9 •
Jadoo, 83
a feat from India with a stick and a string
10 • Der Rote Geist, 95

Austrian magic with a red block of wood
11 • Tagina Metal, 105

a vanishing and reappearing metal cube from Japan
12 • Maza Cassa, 115
Italian magic with a coin which travels invisibly
13 • First American Magic. 126
the dancing arrow of the American Indian
14 • Followers of Merlin, 137

a combination of two British tricks done with money
15 • The Erring Eves, 149

optical trickery from France
16 • Champion Bombyx Mori, 161
making many yards of silk instantly
17 • The Magic Show, 181

suggestions for giving a performance of magic
Index, 189
Magic of the World
I
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•
• 1
From the Beginning
JVlanv thousands of years ago, in the shade of a mud house, about twenty
people stood attentively watching one man.
"My friends," said the man, "you see I am holding a stone in my
hands. It has been passed around and you have all felt it. Watch care-
fully as I close my fingers around the stone and listen well as I say the
magic words."
The speaker gazed up at the sky and almost sang the words, "Bee
baa — baa — bow." Then he lowered his eyes, looked at the people and
again spoke.
"The magic words have been said. Now watch as I open my fingers
slowly. You see the stone has become an egg. Come closer so you can
see it really is an egg. Wait! I'll break the egg into this bowl so you will
know it is a fine fresh egg. You have just seen a stone transformed into
an egg — only a magician can do this."
Of course, the magician exchanged the stone he had shown for an
egg he had hidden, but he did it in such a way that no one saw the sub-
stitution. In those times people believed that by saying meaningless
words the magician actually had made an egg out of a stone.

10 ' Magic of the World
There have been magicians ever since there have been people
with minds to be fooled. The very earliest magic was performed not to
entertain but to impress or frighten those who watched into giving the
magician extra privileges in the tribe. The magician usually was a head-
man of his village. People believed the magician actually did what he
appeared to do and were delighted to see an egg, fruit, or vegetable made

out of a stone or a lump of clay, for it was such an effortless way to get
food. The people thought a person's life could be made easier, more
pleasant, and free from danger by knowing the magic words and in those
days, that was what made magic interesting.
Today, as has been true for several thousand years, a magician is
an entertainer who seems to do the impossible. Watching someone ap-

parently do what really cannot be done has always been a most popular
form of entertainment for people of every nationality. There are magi-

cians in every part of the world; the magic which entertains and mysti-
fies Europeans, for example, also delights and puzzles Americans and
Asians. The universal appeal of magic is a perfect example of the fact
that people everywhere are very much alike.
We do not know all of the magic performed by the first magicians.
If, through the centuries, magicians had not passed on their tricks by
word of mouth no one would know how the ancient magic was accom-
plished. Various writers mentioned feats they saw performed by magi-
cians, but not many writers even attempted to offer explanations of how
the magic was done. Those who guessed were usually wrong.
There are only a few manuscripts in existence containing descrip-
tions of magicians' methods and none of them is really old. The first
printed book in English which explained magic was published in 1584,
ninetv-two years after Columbus sailed to America. While many of the

From the Beginning • 11
feats described in that book are still performed, others have been dis-
carded bv present-day magicians. Because today's spectators do not

want to watch acts of cruelty, such as the death of a real dove when the
magician sticks a knife into a picture of the bird, no modem magician
would consider doing magic of that sort. Other magic has been elimi-
nated because spectators are not apt to bring to a show such items as a
horsewhip or a live chicken for the magician to borrow.
In the four centuries since the first book explaining magic was
published, thousands of books on the subject have been written. My
Ubrary, for example, contains books on magic in more than twentv -five
languages. Manv books are privately printed for magicians only. At
first books merelv had descriptions, mostly sketchy, of how magic was
done. It has been onlv during the last hundred years, and largely in this
centurv, that books have given explicit instructions in magic. There is
a great difference between having an idea about how some act is done
and knowing how to do it properlv. For instance, it is one thing to un-
derstand that in a game of baseball it is possible to hit a ball a great
distance provided the bat connects with the ball in a certain manner.
It is quite another thing to hit the ball during a game.
Through the centuries, magic shows have undergone many

changes. Magicians of ancient times performed outdoors before a few
people at a time. Their magic was done with small objects thev could
carrv with them, or could borrow from spectators. The magicians had
to limit their equipment to what thev could carrv' on their backs as thev
walked from village to village seeking new audiences. A few of the
cleverest magicians became so successful they could afford to buy a
donkey, or even a horse. When magicians could carry more objects,

their shows became more interesting. Even with a horse to carry their
12 • Magic of the World
belongings the magicians continued to give their shows in marketplaces
and on the streets. Though most of the magic still was done with small
objects, the spectators at these street performances were near enough
to the magician to see everything he did.
From the time men covered their bodies with leaves or the skins
of animals, through the period when men wore doublet and hose, cloth-
ing designs were of little aid to magicians. In the Middle Ages Euro-
pean magicians tied around their waists a bag or large pocket much like
an apron. These pocket-aprons were worn by magicians until men's
clothes were made with pockets. Besides being handy for holding the
various things magicians needed for their tricks, the pocket-apron was
the symbol of the magician. Everyone knew the man who wore the
pocket-apron was a magician as they knew the man with a white hat
was a chef and the man with the leather apron was a shoemaker. For
manv centuries in the Far East, and also in Europe, men wore long
robes. Since these robes usually had no pockets, magicians had secret
pockets put in their robes. Throughout history, magicians had to omit
some tricks and were able to perform others because of changes in
clothing styles.
As the centuries passed, some magicians became so entertaining
and skillful that their shows attracted many people and those at the
back of the crowd saw little of the performance. The more inventive
men began to devise feats which could be shown to large groups. Once
thev had suitable magic, magicians naturally looked for even bigger
audiences. With more people watching their shows the magicians made
more money and so could spend more and more. Some would hire large
barns; others had wagons specially built that would open at one end to
form a stage for the performance. Still other magicians rented stores,
put up stages, and remained in one location for months at a time.

Many magicians continued to show their magic to small groups
but they performed indoors instead of outdoors. A few of the best per-
formers gave their shows in the castles and palaces of the nobility.
Some would be paid to give their shows in private homes of wealthy

people for the family and friends of the hosts. Others gave their shows
in the public rooms of inns and usually received contributions from
spectators, although on occasion a fee was asked. With large-scale
building of theaters in modern times magicians devised large and spec-
tacular magic which could be done only on actual stages. Usually magi-
cians were hired to give their shows in theaters where they would ap-
pear in sequence with other performers such as actors, singers, instru-

mentalists, comedians, dancers, acrobats, jugglers, and animal trainers.
A few magicians, having great ability, would engage a theater and offer
a complete show of mysteries.

There are magicians of each group today. Some magicians show
their magic to a few people either in or out of doors. There still are
wagon shows even though some of the wagons are now automobiles.
Modern magicians also appear in theaters of the small intimate type
as well as huge ones having several thousand seats.
The mid-twentieth century brought one new way for magicians to
show their magic — in front of television cameras. It is possible now for
a magician to give one show on television to an audience larger than

the combined audiences of every magician in the world on any one day
in the year 1900.
Any magic is new to a person who has never seen it and so magi-
cians continue to perform the best of the old feats. However, magicians
have always tried to devise new feats to interest their audiences and
they have always taken advantage of new things to help them do their
tricks. When playing cards first were printed, about 1430, a completely
From the Beginning • 15
different kind of magic began — tricks with cards. Printed cards were
inexpensive enough for the magicians to afford. The hand-painted cards
previously in existence were far too costly for a magician to buy and
besides they would not have been suitable for magic as the majority of
people never had seen such cards. The best feats are those done with
objects the audience can recognize.
As times change, so does magic. Perhaps the greatest changes have
been made not in the magic but in the ways it is presented. Early magi-
cians pretended that their wonders were brought about by magic words
and later by their wands which had great powers. The wand was just a
stick of wood or bone, but because the magician claimed it had power
the people accepted his statement when they saw things happen which
they did not understand. However, as the fund of human knowledge

increased, people believed less and less in the powers of words, wands,
or wizards.
When machines were invented that could do a job both faster and
better than a man, magic underwent another change. Machines were the
work of scientists, and to most people in the early nineteenth century
science was very mysterious. It is understandable that people soon ex-

changed their faith in magic words for the belief that performances of
magic were the result of a knowledge of physics and chemistry. Magi-
cians quickly took advantage of the public's misunderstanding and be-
gan to exhibit their feats as examples of scientific wonders. They dis-
pensed with their simple equipment and began making apparatus unlike
anything anyone had ever seen. They also began to use long words
which the public thought were scientific terms but often were quite as
meaningless as the magic words of earlier magicians.
As time passed, scientists and inventors produced more and more
mechanical ways to make our lives easier. With each new invention and
scientific discovery, a greater number of people realized that the won-
ders of science were due to knowledge and study and were not at all the
result of magic. So the magicians returned to the use of simple, non-

mechanical equipment. In going back, magicians did not claim they
knew special words which caused their magic to occur, or that thev pos-
sessed wands with wondrous powers. People today are well aware the
magician is only an entertainer, an ordinary man who pretends to have
extraordinary- powers. They accept his pretense during the magic show
exactly as they do the pretense of actors in plays who pretend to be
kings, or pirates, or policemen.
While the history of magic is largelv a record of the work of pro-

fessional magicians, there have alwavs been amateur magicians. In the
past they were few in number but today there are thousands of people
who simply enjoy being able to do magic feats for the entertainment of
their friends. The professional magician has to devote years to practice
and training, for his tvpe of work depends upon great skill in presenta-
tion as well as in manipulation. Although some amateurs become as

expert as professional magicians, the majority neither wish, nor have
the time, to spend years in study. Most amateurs avoid tricks depending
upon complicated sleight-of-hand and relv for their magic on secret
knowledge, cleverness of an idea, or on special equipment. There are
many marvelous tricks for the amateur magician and a considerable
proportion have been developed bv ingenious amateurs.
A person is a magician whether he makes magic his profession or
his hobbv. All magicians of all times are linked together in a fraternal
chain. E\crv person who shows a true respect for the fascinating art of
magic and can do even one trick well becomes a link in that chain
which goes around the world.

•2 •
How Maffic Works
An magic depends upon fooling the minds of the spectators. Those

who know nothing about magic usually believe that a magician deceives
only the eyes of his audience. Over tvNO thousand years ago the Greek
philosopher Plato said, "The mind alone sees and hears, all else is deaf
and blind." This still is true and magicians can depend upon the fact
that there are many things the eyes can see, or the ears can hear, which
the mind does not bother with at all. For instance, your mind did not
note the number of this page and yet it is right there for you to see. Our
minds ignore many things which our eyes can see because there is no
reason to "see" them. When we know which things the eyes can see
but the mind does not bother to notice, we have the beginning of a
good trick.
You might like to test your friends on an example of what the

mind fails to notice. Everyone in the United States has seen each of
the four smallest coins now minted. A profile portrait of a former
President is on each of these coins. The men pictured are George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D.
Roosevelt. Whose face is on the pennv — the nickel — the dime — the
17
quarter? Your friends may be able to answer those questions but it is
very unlikely that anyone can answer this question: "Which President
has the right side of the face shown, and which the left side?"
Still another example of details our minds do not notice has to do

with our paper money. On a $1 bill the value of the money is shown
by both the figure "1" and the word "one"; the figure as well as the
word appear more than once on every bill. However, even bankers
are surprised when their attention is called to the number of times the
figure and word are printed. Our minds do not trouble to count when
counting is unnecessarv. Another point about seeing is we only see
with understanding those things of which we already have knowledge.
The illustrations prove this fact.
Look at Figure 1. After only a quick glance your eyes told your
mind that there were pictures of a key, a coin, and a button. You saw
those three items at once because you recognized them.
Now look at Figure 2 on page 19. What is pictured there? You

are not quite certain because those three things are not familiar to you.
You see Figure 2 just as well
as you saw Figure 1, but be-
cause you already know the
objects shown in Figure 1,
your eyes merely have to tell
your brain what is pictured
and your memory will sup-
ply all the necessary details.
However, in the case of Fig-
ure 2 you would have to look
a long time before you could
close the book and be able to

How Magic Works • 19
describe what you saw, for
those objects are new to you.
What is pictured in Figure
2? Again a kev, a coin, and
a button are shown. The key

opens a Chinese padlock.
The square coin comes from

India and is over 2,000 years
old. The diamond-shaped

button once was used on the
uniform of a soldier in a
British regiment.
Creating confusion is another way of upsetting the transfer of

information bv the eyes to the mind. Here are seven capital letters.
Under each letter is a small number.
G B I R Y L
12 3 4 5 6 7
The eyes have no difficulty in seeing these letters. First the mind,
without success, tries to figure out how these letters together would be
pronounced. Then it tries to discover if the letters can be rearranged
to form a word. It even wonders what language might use such a com-
bination of letters. The mind is confused because the letters are mixed
and instead of forming one word, spell out two simple English words.
The odd-numbered letters — 1, 3, 5, 7 — spell one word and the even-
numbered letters — 2, 4, 6— spell the other. The word "girl" and
"bov," when written in the ordinary way, give the mind no trouble
but when run together, the mind, not the eyes, becomes confused.
There are other wavs our eves fail us. The eves cannot see in one
direction when they are looking in another. "Misdirection" is the magi-
cian's word for getting the audience to look away at a person or object
while he performs a secret action; it is brought about by what the
magician does, or by what he says. In this book, whenever misdirec-
tion is needed for a trick the explanation will be part of the instructions.
Much of magic also depends upon using secret objects which the
audience never is allowed to see. No one's mind even considers some-

thing it does not know about and which is kept from its sight. Yet,
oddly enough, even in a trick depending upon the use of a secret and
hidden object, people still believe that the magician has fooled their
eyes. It is most kind of audiences to think that way, for it makes the
magician's task much easier.
As we cannot rely on our minds noting all that is there for our
eyes to see, neither can our minds depend upon understanding the
messages received by our ears. Our minds cannot know the origin of a
sound which reaches both our ears at the same time. For this reason
our minds accept, as we watch motion pictures or television, that the

sound comes from the mouth of the person we see talking on the screen
even though we are aware the sound comes from a speaker inches, or
even many feet, away from the screen.
There is an amusing wav to prove that a person cannot know the

direction from which a sound comes — bv snapping your fingers while
he holds his eves closed. The person should be in the middle of a room.
If he is near a wall he may hear a helpful echo. After the one to be
tested has closed his eyes, the one making the test stands by his side.
He then snaps his fingers in front of the person's face, behind or over
his head, or below his chin. Keeping his eyes closed, the person then
is told to point in the direction he thinks the sound occurred. Pro-
How Magic Works • 21
vided the test is administered correctly, anyone who points in the
right direction is only making a lucky guess.
First, the tester must take care that he does not move his hand
into the position where he intends to snap his fingers until after the
subject has closed his eyes. He also has to be careful not to make any
giveaway sound as he moves his arm. And above all, the tester must
be certain when he snaps his fingers that his hand is the same distance
from each ear, so the sound reaches both ears at the same time. It is
vers^ funnv to watch someone point above his head after the finger
snapping has been done below his knees.

Professional magicians have found by experience that there are a
few general rules it is wise to follow. The respected amateur also will
abide by these rules, for they will make him a better magician.
1. As an entertainer, remember to be courteous and pleasant.

Do not be a ''showoff " — a "showoff " is never entertaining.
2. Keep the secrets of magic and never tell how a trick is done.
The mvsterv in magic is a large part of the entertainment and a per-
son's pleasure in magic can be taken away when he is told the secret.
Besides, a short explanation never will be believed because it sounds

too simple. No one thinks he can be deceived by a reallv simple trick.
When a person asks how a trick was done, it does not mean that he
really wants to know. His real question is "What is wrong with me that
I have been fooled?" He wants to be assured that he is not stupid. So,
when a magician explains how a trick was done, he stops being an

entertainer. All magicians' organizations, and there are manv in the
world, require their members to take oaths never to explain the secrets
of magic. This does not mean that another person mav not be taught
how to become a magician, but audiences never should be told.
3. Never repeat a trick in the same show. Repeating a trick less-
ens its entertainment value, for the surprise has been taken away.
Doing a trick a second time also gives the spectators another chance to
discover the secret. After a few days people will have forgotten the
details and the trick can safely be shown to them again.
4. Always keep the secrets of other magicians. Be courteous to
other magicians and never interfere with their performances. Never
copy another magician's way of doing a trick, for you would be taking
something which belongs to him. Besides, a copy is apt to be not as
good as the original.
These are the main general rules. As a person studies magic he

will find there are other rules to be picked up as he goes along.
Magicians everywhere are friendly and kindly people who enjoy
the company of other magicians. Mystery workers from one country
like to trade secrets with those from other lands. The magicians men-
tioned in this book generously gave me the methods used in their amaz-
ing tricks. It pleases me to think that some of my magic entertains their
audiences.
I wish for you the greatest success as, in these pages, you start
around the world of magic. You will have success as long as you re-
member that the only purpose of magic is to entertain others.

•
• 3
The King's Power
(jTvpsies are wanderers who originally came from India. Todav they
may be fomid all over Europe and the Near East, in both North and
South America, and even as far away as Australia. They always have
kept to themselves as they travel from place to place and though they
learn a little of the language of each countrv they visit, they speak their
own language, Romany. G\'psies are well known as entertainers, par-
ticularlv as musicians, singers, and dancers. Manv are also magicians.
The unknown author of an old English book on magic claimed that the
gypsies were the "most expert in this art in all the Kingdom."
Here are two tricks with cards devised by g)'psies. The magician
begins by showing a deck of cards. Then he savs, ''G\]psies believe that
the king of clubs has great power over all the other cards." He looks
through the deck until he finds the king of clubs and removes it. Hold-
ing up the king of clubs, the magician goes on: "I was told that the king
can control ever\^ card in the deck, for he alwavs knows exactly where
each card is. I was also told that the king was willing to show his power
to anyone who would follow the rules and I was given these secret
rules."
23
The magician's talk during the trick is called "patter." Patter is
used partly to interest the audience and partly to help the trick work.
In these tricks the patter is used to confuse the minds of the spectators
by calling special attention to the king of clubs, which really has noth-
ing to do with the way the tricks are done.
The magician next places the king of clubs face up on the table.
Then he tells his audience that the king will first show his power by
using all the aces, twos, threes, and fours in the deck.
This is the way the feat appears to the audience. The magician
takes from the deck all four aces, twos, threes, and fours. These sixteen
cards are shown face up so everyone can see that the correct cards are
used. The magician makes four piles — one for spades, one for hearts,
one for diamonds, and one for clubs. The cards are then turned face
down and mixed. Next, the cards are dealt, still face down, into four
piles. The magician consults the king, who chooses one pile of cards
and is placed on that pile. The magician picks up the other three piles,
puts them together, and holds the pack about a foot above the king.
The magician says that the king will take all the aces from the cards
over his head and put them together in the cards on the table. The king,
according to the story, can do this so rapidly no one will see him. The
magician then asks someone in the audience to turn over the cards on
the table. When the pile is shown face up, it does indeed contain four
aces.
That is what the audience sees and will remember having seen,
and except for a few extra details no one's mind will bother noticing,
that is really what everyone does see. What the magician tells the audi-
ence is not really true but his story makes the trick more interesting
and mystifying. And the trick works without the magician having to
do anything the audience doesn't see done.

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The sixteen cards — all the aces, twos, threes, and fours — are
taken from the deck by the magician and put on the table face up in
four piles as shown in Figure 1. After the audience has verified the
cards the magician puts one pile on top of another. Then he turns this
big pile face down upon the table.
The magician then asks one of the spectators to take a few cards
from the top of the pile, put them on the table, and place the rest of
the pile on top of those cards he first picked up. This is called cutting
the cards. The spectator may cut the cards again and again, until he is
satisfied the cards are well mixed.

Next, the same spectator is asked to deal the cards face down on
the table in four piles. The magician points to the place he wishes each
card to go. The first four cards are taken from the top of the pile, one
at a time, and placed in a row upon the table. The fifth card is put on
top of the first one dealt, the sixth card on the second card dealt, and
—
so on across the row. In the same order, a third card is dealt on each
pile and finally a fourth card goes on top of each pile. Now, as at the
beginning, the sixteen cards are in four piles upon the table. This
time, however, all the cards are face down and are in even piles.
While the cards are being cut and dealt, all the magician has to do
is make certain the spectator follows his simple instructions, and keep
in mind one other thing. The magician must remember which was the
last card dealt and on which pile it is.
The magician tells his audience the gypsies say the king of clubs
decrees that the top card of one pile should now be turned over. That
card, by its number, will show which pile of cards the king wishes to
use. The magician then turns over the last card dealt. As all the cards
are aces, twos, threes, and fours, the card turned over must be one of
those. If the card is an ace, the magician says "An ace stands for one
that means the first pile." If the card is a two, the magician says "A
two — that means the second pile." When the card is a three the magi-
cian says it means the third pile. And, of course, when a four is turned
over the magician says the fourth pile is the one to be used. Whatever
the card turned may be, the magician explains that the number of the
card shows which pile will be used by the king. Remember, the card
turned over is on top of the first pile. The next pile is the second pile,
and so on. See Figure 2. The purpose of turning over this particular
card is to discover which pile is made up of the four aces. The magician
cannot know until he sees the card. The spectators believe the magician
is making a choice when actually he is finding the pile he has to use.
The king of clubs is then picked up from the table, turned over,
and placed on top of the chosen pile.
Then the magician picks up the other three piles, puts them to-
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gether and holds them face down about a foot above the king on the
table. When this is done the magician tells his audience, "The king
will take all the aces from the cards held over his head and will change
them with any other cards he is holding. Watch, for the king believes
he can do it so quickly that you cannot see the cards change." He

pauses. "The king has done it. Please turn over the cards and see that
the king is holding all the aces." This last remark is addressed to one
of the spectators.
When the instructions just given are followed, the audience sees
everything the magician does but is none the wiser. What the audience
does not know is that in choosing the pile on which to put the king, the
magician uses a particular card to show which pile to use. Try this trick
out by yourself. Be both magician and audience. First stand on one

The King's Power • 29
side of the table, as magician, and then walk to the other side of the
table and be a spectator. Once the trick works for you alone, you are
ready to show it to others.
Another trick showing the king's power almost works itself. The
magician must remember the order of what he has to do and say, and
also must learn to do two extra things. But the audience is permitted
to see him do even these acts, for both seem natural and meaningless.
To start this trick, a spectator is given all the cards in the deck,
except the king of clubs, and asked to mix the cards thoroughly. When
the deck has been shuffled, the person is asked to take fifteen cards
from the deck and as he counts, to put the cards face down upon the
table. Then he, or another spectator, is asked to choose one of the fif-
teen cards. The drawer is asked to be careful not to show the selected
card to either the king of clubs or the magician. Then he is asked to
show his card to two other people, as three minds have more power
than one. The magician explains that the king needs a lot of help for
this feat. Finally the chosen card is put back among the other cards
and all fifteen cards are mixed. Then the cards are given to the magi-
cian.
From that point on, this is what the spectators see. The magician
deals the cards face up into three piles on the table. He asks those who
know which card was chosen to watch the cards as they are dealt, and
to notice into which pile the card falls. They should be careful not to
say anything, or jump or blink their eyes, when they see the card. When
all the cards are on the table, the magician picks up the king of clubs
and asks the spectators to indicate which pile has the card they have in
their minds. The magician holds the king so he can look at that pile
and then puts the king back on the table.

The magician picks up the three piles, puts them together, and
again deals the cards upon the table into three piles with all the cards
face up. Again the spectators are asked to say which pile has their card
and again the king is picked up and shown that pile.
For a third time the cards are picked up and dealt, the spectators
tell which pile has their cards, and the king is shown that pile.
After that the cards are picked up and dealt face down on the table
in a large circle so that each card is separate from the others. The
magician picks up the king of clubs and holds it face down above one
card after another. On one card the king drops. The magician says,
"The king has made his choice." Turning to those who know which
card has been chosen, the magician says, "Please tell me the name of
the card vou have in your minds." Then he asks someone to turn over
the card the king picked out. When everyone can see the card the magi-
cian says, "You see, the king always finds the card."
What the audience thinks it sees is what actually happens. But
the magician does two extra things that the audience does not notice.
First, the three piles are picked up from the table and put to-
gether each time in a certain way. The pile having the selected card
always goes in the center between the other two piles. Collecting the
piles and putting them in the correct order can be done so the specta-
tors never notice any arranging. The secret is to use both hands in
putting the piles together — pick up one pile with your right hand as
your left hand picks up another and put those two piles on the third.
As the chosen card may be in either the first, second, or third pile,
there is a small difference in the manner of picking up the piles and

putting them together, but when using both hands for the job the differ-
ence never is noticed. Figure 3 shows the three ways of putting the
piles together in the proper order.
This mark indicates
Ift the pile containing
the chosen card
^«««
place in the middle bottom pile place on the top
place on the top place in the middle bottom pile
place on the top bottom, pile place in the middle
The second extra detail the magician must know and follow comes
at the end of the trick. When the magician deals the cards in a circle
on the table he must count the cards (to himself of course) as he puts
them down. When he puts down the eighth card he has to remember its
location. That eighth card is the chosen card. Then all the magician has
to do is drop the king on that eighth card, in the course of holding the
king over one after another of the cards. With a little practice the magi-
cian can drop the king so that it seems to jump away from his fingers
onto the eighth card. You never need to worry about the eighth card
being the correct one. It always will be, provided that each time the
three piles are put together, the pile having the selected card is put
between the other tw o piles. See Figure 4.
One last point. The reason several people are told to look at the
chosen card at the beginning of the trick is to make certain the card is
remembered. One person might forget, but not all three. That the king
needs the power of several minds is just part of the patter.
•4-
Urbut
ihere still exists a papvrus which records an Eg^"ptian magic per-

formance of about 6.000 vears ago. The chief feat it described was
bringing a chicken back to good health after its head had been cut off.
The writer seemed to believe the magician actually did restore the
severed head and wrote nothing about the method the ancient magician
used. Probablv it was done then as it is done now. for the trick is still
performed. The method currentlv used requires a good copy of a

chicken's head. It is this false head which is sho^\Ti; the chicken's real
head is tucked under its wing. The Eg^'ptian magician mentioned in
the pap^Tus was named Dedi and the trick was done at a performance
for the ruler Cheops, the builder of the Great Pvramid.
There is another ancient Eg^k'ptian feat of cutting apart and making
whole again which still is done. Cutting and restoring a length of string
or rope or ribbon is. and has been for centuries, a favorite feat of magi-
cians the world over. At least a hundred different wavs of doing the
trick have been devised. Some of the methods are difficult and some
easy but the Eg^-ptian wav of doing the trick is one of the most mvstify-
ing.
33
The magician begins by showing a loop of string. The string is
about 2 feet long and the ends have been tied together so the string
forms a circle. The magician holds the string and turns the loop in his
fingers so that everyone can see it plainly. He finishes the display hold-
ing the string in his left hand, with the knotted ends at the top and the
loop hanging down.
With his right hand the magician, using a pair of small scissors,
cuts the string at the lowest point of the loop. The string then has two
ends hanging down. The magician cuts about 1 inch off first one end
and then the other. The magician tells his audience that he is snipping
off the pieces so that everyone knows the string really has been cut.
When the cut pieces drop onto the table, no one can doubt that the
string has been severed.

The magician then says he is going to put the two pieces of string
into his mouth in order to whisper the Egyptian magic word in a way
only the string can hear. He places the knot in his mouth.
Raising his chin and looking at the ceiling, with the string ends
hanging from his lips, the magician appears to speak, barely moving
his lips. Then the magician looks directly at his audience. He takes
one end of the string in his right hand and the other end of the string
in his left hand. Keeping the string in his mouth, he pulls the ends out
into a straight line. Very slowly, with the string straight and taut, the
magician lifts the string from between his lips. Everyone can see that
the knot is gone and the two pieces have been rejoined to make one
perfect string. Because everyone knows that a string cannot really be
made whole after it has been cut apart, they are astounded by this trick.
The trick, as is true with so many tricks in magic, depends to a
large extent upon what the magician does before the performance. In
preparation, the magician has to do two things. First he has to make an

endless loop of 2 feet of string. The string should be of white cotton
and not at all heavy. The tw o ends of the string are fastened together
with paraffin. Paraffin is a hard white wax which will melt at a fairly
low temperature. It is often used to cover and seal a glass of jelly for
storage and can be purchased in a grocery store.
Dip the string ends into the paraffin after it has been melted. Be-
cause paraffin, after it has become cold and hard, is very difficult to get
out of the container in which it was melted, a good pan should not be
used. An empty tin can is fine for melting the wax and the paraffin may
be left in the can and put away for future use.
Dip onlv about V2 inch of each end of string into the molten wax.
In a liquid state paraffin looks like water but it turns white again as it
begins to cool. When the wax has cooled enough so it is beginning to

turn white, the two ends of the string should be joined and rolled be-
tween the fingers. The ends stick together and when properly rolled,
make an invisible joint. In this way a length of string becomes an end-

less loop. See Figure 1. The h)op of string should be set aside until
the wax is hard. To avoid burning the fingers, never touch the paraffin
until it has cooled to almost pure white. It is a good plan to make ten
or more loops of string at one time so as not to have to bother melting
paraffin frequently.
After the paraffin joint of the string is hard and cold, squeeze to-
gether the part of the loop which is opposite the joined ends. See Fig-
ure 2. A short piece of string, the same kind as was used in making
the loop, is now needed. Tie this short piece of string around the dou-
bled part of the loop fairly tightly and with a single knot. After mak-
ing the knot, pull the loop of string through the knot until onlv a tiny
part of the string is still inside the knot. Then cut off the ends of the
short piece of string leaving only about M inch of string on either side
of the knot. It will look exactly like a piece of string which has been
made into a loop by tying the ends together.
In performing this trick the magician begins by showing the
string. As he turns the loop around in his hands the magician says,
"Here is a piece of string made into a circle by having the ends tied in
a hard knot." He then takes hold of the string with the fingers of his
left hand, near the knot. See Figure 3. The real ends of the string,
which are waxed together, hang down. The magician picks up a pair
of scissors and asks the audience to watch as he cuts through the mid-
dle of the string. He then cuts the string right where it was joined with
the paraflTm. As no one knows how the string was prepared, everyone
will assume that the magician has cut the string in half as he said
he did.
Urbut ' 39
Tlie magician then states that he will cut about 1 inch off each end
so that even one may be certain that the string actually has been cut.
He snips off a piece of each string end slowly and carefully. Of course
the magician's real purpose is to cut away the parts of the string which
have paraffin on them. The small pieces of paraffined string drop onto
the table. The magician makes sure, after the trick is over, to pick up
these pieces and put them in his pocket. Anyone who notices this action
will merely think that the magician is a neat person.
The magician tells his audience that bv saying the same word the
Egyptian magicians used he will join the t^vo pieces into a single piece
of string. Then the magician puts the knot into his mouth and lets the
ends of the string hang from his lips. See Figure 4. With one end of
the string in each hand, the magician pulls the string out straight, and
the knot pops off the string inside his mouth. He then takes the string
from his mouth and as everyone can see, he again has one piece of
string. At this point, with his tongue, the magician pushes the knot of
string into his cheek. The knot will be quite safe there until, away from
the audience, he gets a chance to remove it.
In learning this trick, a short piece of string should be knotted
around a double piece of string a number of different times until one

discovers exactlv how tightly to tie the knot. It should be tight enough
so that it does not fall off. But the knot should not be so tight that it
will not pop off when the long string is pulled out straight.
Practice putting the string into your mouth and taking it out again
in front of a mirror to learn how to do both actions keeping the string

dr).
I learned this trick when I visited a school in Cairo a number of

years ago. It was a one-room schoolhouse with an earthen floor. There
were about a dozen students and one teacher. It is the only magic
school for young boys I have ever seen.
After I perform this trick I always announce to the audience the
word that Egyptian magician used when he mended the string which
had been cut apart. The word is "Urbut." The "ur" is pronounced like
the "ur" in "urgent." The "but" is the same as "but" in English.
"Urbut" means "join" and the magician convinces the audience that
he can "join" together two pieces of string.

•
• 5
She-fa Cash
In Peiping, the onetime Imperial Citv of China, there used to be a big
marketplace known as "The Fair by the Bridge to the Gate of the Tem-
ple of Heaven." In this market there were stalls in which everything
imaginable was sold. At one place the silk merchants assembled. At

other spots the jewelers, or sellers of copperware, could be found. A
wide varietv of foods was sold at counters very much like our own ham-
burger stands at county fairs. Interesting as all the merchants were, the
entertainers were even more exciting.
Among the entertainers were musicians, stor>'tellers, acrobats,
and a really fine magician. The magician had his own location in the
marketplace for his shows. Shunning stage and platform, he showed

his magic to an audience standing in a circle around him. Just before
each show he would beat on a gong to notify people nearby that the
magic was about to begin. All the people recognized the tone of the
gong and the particular bing-bing-bong way it was struck, because
every magician in China who worked out of doors used a similar gong
and always hit the gong with the same rhythm.

The spectators called the magician "K'uai-shou," which meant
41
"quick hands." For one bit of magic he used small coins called
"cash." These coins were made of copper with a square hole in the
center so that thev could be strung together. Such coins were common
in China for 2,500 years and in some remote parts of the country are
still used. To perform the trick a magician has to have nine cash or if
those coins cannot be found, the trick can be done with nine brass, or
even iron, washers. Washers can be purchased at little cost in any

hardware store.
When K'uai-shou showed the trick he sat on his heels. However,
the trick can be done either squatting or standing, whichever way the
audience can see it best.
K'uai-shou began bv showing a little thin oblong piece of wood

which held six cash. The coins were separated on the small board and
formed a sort of five-pointed star. He picked up the coins, one at a
time, and dropped them back on the board so that they lay in a straight
line. He held the board so that the coins could be seen and counted by
everyone and then placed the board on the ground. Next he displayed
a piece of cloth about the size of a handkerchief. After unfolding and
holding up the cloth bv two corners he spread it out upon the ground.
Then with one hand he picked up a corner at a time, transferring it to
the other hand. While this was done the center of the cloth remained
on the ground. When K'uai-shou held all four comers in one hand he
had made a little cloth bag. He pulled the cloth apart between two of
the corners to make an opening for the bag.
Still holding the corners of the cloth in one hand, K'uai-shou
picked up the board and poured the coins into the bag. Then he put
the board in his pocket. Holding the corners of the cloth he jounced
the bag against the ground so that the audience could hear the coins
touching the hard surface. Then he put the cloth back on the earth,
and after twisting the corners together, dropped them on top of the
rest of the cloth.
The magician then reached up to the breast pocket of his jacket

and pulled out a loop of string. He stretched the open loop between his
hands. Then he pulled the string around with one hand to get the knot
in a certain position halfway across the top strand of the loop. He held
the string (again with both hands) near the cloth wrapped around the
coins. With the string just above the cloth, he brought his hands to-
gether and with a jerk, again stretched the loop. He did this three times
and when the loop was taut the third time, three cash had been threaded
on the knotted string. Then slowly and carefully he opened the cloth
to show that three of the cash were missing. It was an amazing trick
and no one in the audience knew how the magic was done.
During the performance of this trick K'uai-shou told a story
which interested and amused his audience. After explaining how the
trick is done, I shall recount the story I tell when 1 do this feat.
The board is just a little longer than is necessary to hold the six
coins, or washers, in a straight row without touching one another. The

width of the board is a little more than half its length. (When real cash
are used, the board should be taVi inches long by 3V2 inches wide.)
The board may be a very thin piece of wood or a heavy piece of card-
board that will not bend easily.
Show the board with the six coins lying on it, as in Figure 1.
Then pick up one coin after another, dropping each on the board until
all the coins form a straight line. The magician seems to move all the
coins around on the board but actually he only moves three coins. The
other three are glued fast to the board. Because of the way the coins
are placed on the board at the beginning of the trick, no one will notice
that three of the coins already lie in a straight line. Those three coins
are the ones glued to the board. In Figure 1 a small x has been drawn
under each of the coins fastened to the board. After you show the coins
in a group put them in a straight line. See Figure 2. Pick up each coin
you move, instead of sliding it on the board, to get the greater sound
effect of dropping the coins. Because the spectators hear as well as see
the coins fall back on the board, it never will occur to anyone that not
all of the coins are loose. After the coins have been put in a line, set
the board and coins within sight of the audience.

The cloth may be of any kind of soft material; a handkerchief can
be used for the trick. The trick seems more Oriental when a colored
cloth is used, particularly when it is red, green, light blue, or black.
Figure 3 shows how the corners of the cloth are picked up and held
to form a bag; an arrow indicates the way the cloth is pulled back to
make an opening, on the side facing the audience.
The magician then picks up the board and pours the coins into
the bag. Because the opening in the folds of the cloth faces the specta-
tors, it is perfectly natural to hold the board so that when it is tipped,

the underside of the board is
all that the audience sees.

Figure 4 shows the way to
slide the coins off the board

making pocket
into the handkerchief, as
seen by the magician. The

spectators hear the coins as
they fall inside the cloth but
see nothing. No one can

know that onlv three coins
go into the cloth just by

sound. All the magician has
to do at this point is remem-

ber to keep the bottom of the
board toward the spectators

as he puts the board into his
pocket. The spectators must

never see the three coins
glued fast to the board.

At the end of the trick,
when the cloth is opened, the

spectators see only three
coins and believe that the
three coins which appeared
on the string are the other

three coins originally placed
in the cloth bag. Of course,
the coins on the string are
not the same ones. As the

She-fa Cash • 47
audience never is allowed to see that the magician has more than six
coins, it does not occur to them that he might have more coins. When
the magician suddenly produces the three coins on the loop of string he
depends upon the spectators' never suspecting that extra coins exist.
The trick is easy to do for another reason. The three coins are put on
the string before the show and because of the way the loop of string is
picked up and shown, the coins are hidden until the magician wants
them to be seen.
Before the show, drop the coins on string into the breast pocket
of your jacket. Take care that the loop of string does not become
twisted. Push almost all the string into the pocket. Leave just the small
end of the loop outside and bend it out over the top edge of the pocket
to keep it from falling inside.
Here is the way the string is taken from the pocket. Grip the
string with vour right hand through the loop. Keep the palm of your
hand toward the coat. Then begin to pull the string slowly out of the
pocket. At the same time bring your left hand inside the loop and into
the pocket. Figure 5 shows the position of hands and string at this
breast pocket
point. The right hand continues to pull on the string and the left hand
is held still. The coins simply ride their string elevator into the left
hand. When the coins reach your left hand, bring both hands in front
of your body stretching the loop of string between them. The backs of
your hands face the spectators. At this point make sure the fingers of
your left hand are closed around the coins so that even you can't see
them. See Figure 6. Then bv twisting both wrists, you can turn the
palms of your hands toward the audience. See Figure 7. Both Figures
6 and 7 are drawn from the magician's viewpoint. The twisting-
wrist action turns the loop upside down and is done, at least so the
audience believes, onlv the better to show the loop of string. Actually,
it also gives the audience a chance to see the palms as well as the backs
of your hands, and the string. Then twist your wrists again so the
backs of your hands are toward the audience. In Figure 6 you can see
that the knot is in the center of the upper strand of the loop. If the knot
is in anv other position, release the string with your right hand and pull
through the fingers of vour left hand until the knot is in the right place.
The fingers of the right hand then return to their position inside the
loop.
The actual appearance of the coins is very simplv accomplished

and is as surprising to the audience as it is easy for the magician. First
the magician takes a tight grip on the string with his left thumb and
forefinger. Then he brings his hands together and back into the first
position. By snapping the loop in this way the magician apparently is
showing the strength of the string. The same motions are repeated but
this time the three fingers holding the coins release the coins so that
they can fall down the string. The coins are released just as the hands
are brought together. See Figure 8. Then the coins fall to the center
of the lower strand of the loop. See Figure 9.

Here is the story I tell when performing this magic: "Chinese

clothes do not have as many pockets as ours. Therefore, many of the
old Chinese coins were made with holes in the center so that they could
be tied together. The string which held the coins would be tied to one's
belt so the coins could be easily carried. Sometimes the coins would
be wrapped in a cloth and the cloth tied to one's belt. Either way, the
Chinese could carry money without having pockets. Chinese magi-

cians often use these coins in their performances."
At this point in the story I say one thing when the real coins are
used and another when the trick is done with washers. I say either
"Here are six of those coins having holes which the Chinese call
'cash' " or "I don't happen to have the Chinese coins with me so I shall
do the magic with these six metal washers which are about the same
size as the coins."
I continue: "I want everyone to see the coins and that there are
just six of them. I'll put them in a straight line on this board so that
you can count them more easily.
"Here is a cloth which I shall make into a bag. I'll drop the
coins in the bag. When I jounce the bag up and down you can hear the
money jingle. Now I'll leave the money safely wrapped up. Next I
want you to look at this loop of string with its ends knotted together.
Watch as I wave the string over the bag and magically take three of the
coins from the bag and [at this instant the coins appear on the string]
catch them on the string. In China magicians are never greedy; they
always leave half the number of coins. Please open the cloth and see
that I have left exactlv as many coins as I took by magic."
With the same six coins (the only ones the audience knows
about), the same cloth, and the same piece of string, it is possible to
She-fa Cash • 51
do another excellent trick. In this second feat, however, the magician

starts with a string having no knots and six loose coins. If this trick is
performed right after the other feat using cash, it is necessary to untie
the knot in the string and take off the three coins. Provided the string
was tied with a square knot, it may be undone quickly and simplv.
With your right hand, take hold of the string near the knot and with
vour left hand take the end of the string on the same side of the knot.
Pull with each hand until the string is in a straight line. When this is
done, take hold of the knot with your right hand. Pull the string free of
the knot with your left hand. See Figure 10.

This is what the audience sees in the second trick with cash. At
the start of the trick the magician ties one of the cash to the center of
the string. Then the other five coins are threaded on the doubled
string. The coin tied on the string holds the other coins and keeps
them on the string. Next, the ends of the string are separated and each
end is given to a spectator to hold. The coins hang on the center of the
string. The magician then covers the coins with a cloth. The magician
puts his hands under the cloth and removes all six coins from the
string. He then takes the cloth awav from the string. The coins, string,
and cloth mav be exar-iined, for there is nothing odd about anv of them.
While the feat seems impossible, it is very easy to do.
The trick depends upon the wav in which the first coin is tied on
the string. It is a very simple knot to make and vet a knot from which
it would seem impossible to release the coin while the ends of the
string are held.
To tie the coin on the string first double the string and push the
two ends through the hole in the coin. See Figure 11. When the ends
of the string have gone a couple of inches through the coin, put your
fingers through the loop of string and take hold of the ends. See Figure
10
12. These ends are pulled until the knot is tight on the coin. The coin
is released and hangs from the double string. Then, one at a time,
thread the other five coins on the double string and let them fall on
the first coin. See Figure 13. Separate the ends of the string and give
11
13
14
them to two spectators to hold. Then hang the cloth on the string over
the coins. Figure 14 shows the trick at this point and by dotted lines,
shows the coins under the cloth. The spectators are told to hold on very
tightly to the ends but to let the string itself hang fairly slack.
The magician then puts his hands under the cloth and removes
the coins. All that he has to do is to take hold of the bottom edge of the
center coin with one hand, and with the other hand, pull up on the very
center of the string. This can be done because the string is held
loosely. See Figure 15. Then he pulls the loop of string down over the
coin which undoes the knot. All the coins will slide right off the string.
Be careful not to let any one of them drop.

When I perform this trick as a follow-up to the first with cash, I
add to the story I told. At the very end I say, "You remember I told
you that the Chinese never take more than half the coins. Of course
they could take them all, as I just did, but they never do."
She-fa Cash OD
The name of these tricks in Chinese is "She-fa Cash," which
means "Magic Money." "She" is pronounced exactly like "she" in
English. "Fa" is pronounced in the same way as the first syllable of
"father." "Cash" is pronounced exactly like the English word.
magician's hands underneath cloth

•6 •
Mental Magic
Tor centuries scholars have been interested in studying the mental
abilities of people and animals. For a long time many of their conclu-
sions were no more than guesses; little really was known about what a
mind can do and how a mind works. Less than a hundred years ago
Professor Wilhelm Wundt, of the University of Leipzig in Germany,
started the world's first laboratory for experimental testing of the ways
minds work. Another professor at Leipzig, Dr. Arthur Kollmann, not

only lectured on the reasons why magicians can fool the minds of their
audiences but demonstrated how it was done. Professor Kollmann was
a medical doctor, a magician, and a psychologist. As a magician, Pro-
fessor Kollmann realized that without the necessary equipment for
performing tricks, he could not really explain to his classes how the
magic worked. He therefore made an extensive collection of magical
apparatus and gave it to the university.
Just as German scholars were pre-eminent in psychology, the
scientific study of the mind, German magicians were leaders in the

field called mental magic. Magicians had performed feats of mental
magic long before psychology became a scientific study, but the big
57
advance in mental magic followed the scholars' adoption of scientific
methods.
In mental magic, magicians claimed to be able, by magic, to
learn the thoughts of another person, and to send their thoughts to their
assistants. The trick about to be described is a thought-sending feat
which depends upon both the magician and an assistant. Once the magi-
cian understands the trick he can train an assistant in five minutes.
This is what the audience sees and hears. The magician tells his
audience that many studies are being made to discover if it is possible,
just by thinking, to send thoughts to another person.

The magician goes on to say that he and his friend have been
interested in the idea of thought transference and have carried out tests
which he believes will interest the audience. He asks his friend to go
into another room and to shut the door. If the assistant happens to be
a relative, the magician speaks of "my brother" or "sister" or whoever
the person happens to be.
After the door has closed on the assistant, the magician explains
that his friend seems to receive thoughts best when he can get a picture
in his mind. He has been most successful in getting pictures of playing
cards, or money. He does not seem to be able to see letters or numbers

in the tests so far made.
Then the magician gives a deck of cards to one of the spectators
and asks him to mix the cards thoroughly. While the cards are being
shuffled, the magician asks several people to take a coin, or a piece of
paper money, from their pockets and hold it in their hands.
After the spectator is satisfied that the cards have been well
mixed, the magician directs him to choose one card while the deck is
face down. The magician emphasizes that he wants one card to be

Mental Magic • 59
selected entirely by chance while the cards are still in the hands of the
spectator. When the card has been taken from the deck, the magician
asks that it be placed, face up, upon the table.
If the card is a numbered card, the magician tells his audience
that he has to picture in his mind the design made by the spots on the
card. He does this, he explains, because his friend has to see a picture
of the card so plainly that he can count the spots. If the card is a picture
card he states he has to studv the picture so he can make his friend
see the king's beard, or some other detail in the picture which can be
talked about.
The magician then asks one of the spectators to choose the monev
to be used from the pieces held bv several members of the audience.
The piece of monev selected is placed on the table beside the card.
The magician tells his audience that he will print on a piece of

paper what he wants his assistant to do. T do this," he says, '"so that
all mv friend has to do is to open his mind to the kind of picture being
sent from mv mind." The magician prints:
NAME THE CARD

" " MONEY
The magician asks the audience to decide which spectator is to
take the paper and slide it under the door. The spectator is told not to
speak and after the paper has gone under the door, to stand quietly
until the paper has been returned. \^Tien the paper has been pushed
back under the door, the spectator is asked to pick it up.
On the back of the paper the assistant has correctlv named the
chosen card and the selected monev piece.

Of course, thought transference has nothing to do with this trick.
The magician tells the assistant about the card, and about the money,
by means of the piece of paper slipped under the door.
Cards are like people in that they have a given name and a family
name. The given name shows what is called the "value" of the card,
as a two, a seven, a jack. There are thirteen given names — ace, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king. The family name shows what is
called the "suit" of the card and there are only four suits —diamonds,
hearts, clubs, spades. Therefore with two code marks, it is easy to send
the two names of any card selected. It is quite unnecessary to have
fifty-two different card marks — that is, to have a different mark for each
card in the deck.
When printing name the card the magician uses eleven letters and
counting the two spaces between the words gives a total of thirteen. By
marking a particular letter or space, the magician can quickly and
easily code the value of any one of the thirteen cards. This is done by
means of a dot. Figure 1 indicates where the dot goes to code the value
of anv card. Another dot at the top of one of four special letters indi-
cates the suit of the card. The red suits, diamonds and hearts, are coded
by dots at the top of the first and last letters of the word name. A dot at
the top of the N indicates diamonds and a dot at the top of the E is the
code for hearts. A dot at the top of the T in the is the mark for clubs. A
dot at the top of C in card is the code mark for spades.
For clarity, the dots have been drawn very heavily in the illustra-
tion. In actual performance of the trick, the dots should be drawn quite
small, and there should be only a tiny break between dot and letter.
With very little practice it is possible to mark the dots so lightly that
they will be noticeable only to a person who knows they are there and is
looking for them.

—
diamonds hearts clubs spades
t T five
ace three four jack I king
queen
11 I I
ft t
' nickel t quarter
penny dime
halj dolla
silver dollar foreign coin $1 bill
The code, once it is understood, is simple to use. In a very short

time the magician will remember, and will not have to stop to count,
that, for example, the T in the word the is the one to mark when the
card is a six. He will know that c-a-r-d are the letters to mark for ten,
jack, queen, king. The suits, too, can be remembered easily. First the
red suits — then the black Both the red and the black
suits. suits are in
alphabetical order — diamonds, spades. The

hearts; clubs, better the
magician has committed the code to memory, the more effective the
trick will be.
The money code, too, breaks down so it is easy to learn. First, the
United States government issues coins of only six different values
1<P, 5<P, IOC, 25<P, 50C, and $1. The paper money most generally car-
ried are bills of the value of $1, $5, and $10. Sometimes a joking
spectator will bring out a foreign coin, or will offer a token. Even so,
six U.S. coins, a pocket piece, a token, and paper money of three de-
nominations still add up to a need for only eleven code marks. When
the magician printed on the paper he used two pairs of ditto marks
under the words name and the. Dots on one or the other of these ditto
marks code the four smallest coins. The bottoms of the vertical bars of
the M in money are the locations for the dots for the silver half-dollar
and dollar. As any extra mark on the is apt to stand out, that letter
never is marked. The dot on the N indicates a foreign coin. The dot on
the E codes a token. Starting at the bottom and going clockwise, the
three points of the Y are dotted to indicate a $1, $5, or $10 bill. Figure
1 shows the location of the dots.
In case someone, sometime, presents a bill of larger denomina-
tion than can be coded by the system, the solution is very simple. The
magician only has to put a period after the word money. The assist-
ant writes on his paper "The money is a bill which has on it a picture
I do not know so it must be of greater value than the bills I have seen."
Remember the magician said his assistant could not get letters or num-
bers by thought transmission but only pictures.
To make it easy for the assistant to read the code correctly, he
should be given notes to carry into the room. These notes, of course,
are hidden in his pocket and tell what each code mark means. The
assistant's papers are like the Figures which show these marks and
their meanings.
After the paper has been put under the door, the magician
should act as though he were thinking very hard. Naturally, at this time
he should never talk.
Mental tricks are most impressive when it appears that the magi-
Mental Magic • 63
clan's mind possesses a special ability. When such tricks are well done,
many people will believe they have witnessed a demonstration of the
work of a super-mind. So that your audience will remember that you
are a magician, and not a mental freak, a good way to end the trick is to
say, "Always remember that magic and mindreading both begin with
the letter M." Such a statement will give away no secret and yet will
remind your audience that they are watching a performance of magic.

• 7 •
Here, There, and Everywhere
oome magic was invented in one country and quite independently,

reinvented by magicians of different countries. The trick about to be
described is one which has long been popular with British and Ameri-
can audiences. I have seen it performed in Scandinavian countries as
well as in Hungary and in Spain. I do not know where it was first
shown. It is particularly good because spectators are always convinced

they actually see designs change and jump about in a way that they
know is impossible for drawings to do. The trick also is a fine one as
it can be performed in so many different ways.
This trick depends almost entirely for its mystery upon manipula-
tion by the magician but it is not hard to do. The trick is performed
with a small wooden paddle made from a tongue depressor. Tongue
depressors are very inexpensive and are sold in drugstores. They are
made of good hard wood and have rounded ends. The standard size is
6 inches long, % inch wide, and Vs inch thick. To make a paddle out of
a tongue depressor, whittle away part of the wood at one end with a
pocket knife to form a handle. When finished, the blade of the paddle
should be about 4 inches lone and the handle 2 inches lone. The width
65
of the handle should slightly exceed the thickness of the wood. Figure
1 shows a tongue depressor made into a paddle.
1
x:
r::
^ these areas are cut out
In the following tricks the magician shows the audience that de-
signs marked on the blade of the paddle can be made to disappear,
and reappear, and change in appearance or location. All the tricks

which can be done with this paddle are performed in the same way.
The "Magic Inkspots" is the best trick to learn first.
This is what the audience sees the magician do. The magician
begins by showing both sides of an unmarked wooden paddle. He then
takes from his pocket what he calls a "magic inkspot" and puts it on
the paddle blade. After everyone has a chance to see the round inkspot
on the paddle, the magician turns the paddle over. The other side of
the paddle is unmarked. The magician takes a second inkspot from his
pocket and puts it on that side of the paddle. He then shows first one
side of the paddle and then the other so that the audience can clearly
see the two spots of ink. The magician then takes away the inkspot from
one side of the paddle and throws the spot in the air where it disap-
pears. Next he takes away the inkspot from the other side and throws
it away. As the climax of the trick, the magician waves the paddle in
the air and captures both inkspots and shows the audience that once
more there is an inkspot on each side of the paddle.
The secret of the trick is that before the performance an inkspot
has been drawn on only one side of the paddle. By handling the paddle
in a certain wav, the magician can show a plain paddle, or a paddle
with one inkspot, or two.
Figure 2 shows the way to hold the paddle. Keep your hand palm
up. Grip the handle of the paddle between the thumb (on top) and the
first and second fingers (underneath) Notice . that the thumb covers half
of each finger. You can turn the paddle over by turning your forearm
(Figure 3A) . Turning the arm back puts the paddle in the first position
This is the way to show each side of the paddle. Your hand turns with
your arm but otherwise does not change position. The action is ver)^
much like using a fan.
You may also show the other side of the paddle by rolling the
handle of the paddle with your thumb. Reversing the direction will
bring the blade of the paddle back to its first position.
If these two ways of turning the paddle are combined, only one
side of the paddle can be seen but it appears that both sides are shown.
(Figure 3B).
The eyes cannot see, in this double turning, that onlv one side is
shown, because the paddle blade moves quite a distance when the arm
is turned. This large movement covers up the thumb-turning of the
paddle. The thumb pushes on the paddle handle when the hand is
turned from the palm-up position. The thumb pulls as the hand is
turned from the back-up position. Neither the turning of the hand nor
the twisting of the paddle handle should be done rapidly. The twisting
should be done very slowly. Twist the paddle handle so that the face
of the blade always faces the spectators as the hand is turned over.
This sounds as if it might be troublesome to do but it really is easy.
Of course, when the magician announces he is taking an inkspot
from his pocket he is pretending. But this pretense provides a reason
for covering the paddle with his hand as he "drops the inkspot" on the
paddle. When the paddle is hidden by the hand, the magician turns it
over by twisting the handle between his thumb and fingers. After the
spot is seen on the paddle, the magician turns the paddle to show the
Here, There, and Everywhere • 69
other side which is still blank. This turn is made bv turning only the
hand because the magician wants the audience, this time, really to see
the other side.
As was done with the first inkspot, the magician "puts" a second
''inkspot" on the paddle. Then, by the double turn, the magician shows
an inkspot on each side of the paddle. Picking up the inkspots and

throwing them away is done by exactly the same moves as were used
in putting the inkspots on the paddle. The only difference is that the
magician pretends to pick up the spots instead of putting them down.
Later catching the inkspots in the air is easy. All the magician has
to do is to make a big sweep in the air as he twists the handle between

his fingers. Again the large movement hides the small one.
A last note about the "Magic Inkspots" — because there is but one
inkspot on the paddle, and yet at times the audience is made to believe
there are Wo inkspots, the spot must be carefully drawn on the paddle.
The best way to make the spot is to trace around some small round
object such as a button. After the circle has been drawn the center is
filled in so that the finished job looks like a round inkspot.

A great variety of effects are possible with the little wooden pad-
dle. All are done in the same way, so there is no need to go into great
detail. Figure 4 shows the designs on the various paddles. The draw-
ings show both the back and front of each paddle and the pictures are
numbered to match the descriptions of what the audience sees.
1. In this trick the magician shows a circle drawn on each side of
the paddle. When the magician presses the circles, a square appears in
the center of each. When he passes his hand over the paddle, both
squares disappear.
2. A large X is shown on each side of the paddle near the tip. The
magician, by passing his hand over the paddle, moves each Xdown the
paddle blade so it is near the handle.

3. A circle with a bar across it is shown on each side of the pad-
dle. By making a twisting motion above the paddle, the bar is made to
turn so that it runs up and down within the circle instead of across.
4. This is similar to 3. An arrow turns end for end. Take care

that the shafts of the arrows are in exactly the same position on each
side of the paddle. If this is not done the arrow will seem to jump out
of position and the trick will be spoiled.
5. A thin arrow is shown on both sides of the paddle. The magi-

cian hits the end of the shaft so that it crumples up. He then turns the
paddle (a real turn) to show the "other" straight arrow. He hits and
crumples this one too. The trick ends by the magician pulling the
arrows straight again one at a time.

6. On one side of the paddle is pasted a postage stamp of one
color and on the other side one of a different color. The audience thinks
it sees identical stamps pasted on each side of the paddle. These stamps
change to quite different stamps and change back. Either postage
stamps or trading stamps can be used for this trick.
7. The magician shows a paddle with a penny fastened to each
side with plastic tape. He pushes the end of the paddle into his cupped
left hand. When he pulls the paddle away, the pennies have changed to
dimes. Opening his left hand, the magician shows two pennies. The
pennies have been hidden in his cupped left hand, from the start of
the trick. The paddle is turned over as the left hand appears to twist
the pennies off the paddle.
It is worthwhile to make a duplicate of any paddle used. The

second paddle is alike on both sides. The second paddle is shown and
the spectators, if they wish, may be permitted to handle it. When the
magician takes it back, he puts it in his pocket and says "This trick
can be shown only at certain times. If you want to see it, please let me
know when it is exactly a quarter past." The magician names a time
which is a few minutes away. The story about time is told partly be-
cause it makes people curious but mainly because it gives the magician
an excuse to return the examined paddle to his pocket. When he again

takes the paddle from his pocket he makes certain it is the one he can
use for the trick. Cutting a tiny notch in the end of the handle of this
paddle makes it easy to know, by touch, one paddle from the other
when both are in your pocket. The magician also takes care to bring
out the paddle with the right side showing.
For another trick, which appears to the audience to be quite differ-

ent but which is performed in exactly the same way as the paddle trick,
the magician uses a round lead pencil. The audience can see that three
small holes have been drilled through the pencil near one end. The
magician pushes a tiny stick of wood, or a short length of wire, into one
of the holes. The wood, or wire, peg is pushed through the hole until it
protrudes an equal distance on each side of the pencil. The magician
turns the pencil so the spectators can see that the wood or wire goes
right through the hole. At the magician's command the wood or wire
peg jumps into another hole. Then the magician makes the peg jump
in one hole after another.
The trick depends on two things. First, the pencil should be handled
exactly Hke the paddle. That is, the magician shows only one side of the
pencil in a wav that convinces the audience they see two sides. The
other reason for the trick's success is that the pencil has only two holes
drilled all the way through. It also has two holes drilled halfway
through, one on each side of the pencil. Figure 5 shows the proper
position of each hole and each half hole. The lead in the pencil makes
the half holes, as well as the holes, jet black. For this reason they can-
not be told apart unless the pencil is held up to the light.
Put the peg in the center hole on one side, and it will seem to have
jumped to an end hole when the pencil actually is turned over. Then
take the peg out of that end hole and stick into the center hole. Turn the
pencil over again, and the peg will seem to have jumped into the hole
at the other end of the line.
The holes should be drilled into the pencil in a straight line. A

Vi 6-inch hole is a good size. The first hole (which is actually a half
hole) should be placed about an inch from the end of the pencil. The
holes should be evenly spaced about V4 inch apart.
If a piece of straight stiff wire Vi 6-inch in diameter and 1 inch
long can be found, it will make a better and stronger peg than one made
of wood. In either case, the peg must be sized to go fairly easily into the
hole in the pencil and yet fit tightly enough to remain in place when the
pencil is turned over.

Magicians call the first series of tricks "the Paddle Trick" and the
final feat "the Peg Pencil." This chapter is named "Here, There and
Everywhere" because these tricks are performed by magicians in many
lands and also because the paddle designs and the peg seem to move
about so freely and mysteriously.
B
pencil
lead
only holes A and B go completely through

• 8 •
Choose a Color
Visitors to Spain frequently are struck bv the countrv's picturesque
qualits' and that is because Spaniards use beautiful colors to good effect.
Lavish use of color has made every Spanish magic show I have seen
particularlv attractive. This was especiallv true of a performance I wit-
nessed at a private partv in Spain. After the performance when the
magician learned that I was a colleague he generously showed me all
his equipment.
The trick in his show which most interested me was a trick with
a rubber balloon. The magician began the feat by showing a balloon

which had been blown up until it was a sphere about a foot in diameter.
The balloon was bright blue. To keep the air in the balloon, a string had
been tied around the opening. After asking members of the audience to
be careful not to break it. the magician permitted them to handle the
balloon. When he got back the balloon he placed it on a table.
Then he picked up a container which held a number of round
sticks of wood. All the sticks were exactly the same length. The magi-
cian pointed out to his audience that the ends of the sticks inside the
container had been colored. "For example," he said as he took one
tD •
76 • Ma^c of the World
stick from the container, "this stick is colored green." After mixing
the sticks about in the container he took out another stick. "And this
stick," the magician said as he showed it, "is colored yellow." Again
mixing the sticks the magician withdrew a third one and as he showed
it, called attention to its being purple. After he displayed each stick's
color, the magician laid the green, yellow, and purple sticks on the
table.
Carrying the container to one spectator, the magician asked him

to mix the sticks as the magician had done. After the sticks had been
mixed the magician invited the spectator to select one stick and take it
out of the container, but to hold his other hand around the colored tip
so no one could see the color he had chosen. The magician then put
the container, with its remaining sticks, back on the table.
The magician picked up the balloon and in his left hand held it
by the tube. With his right hand he picked up one of the colored sticks
he had put on the table. Turning to face the spectators, the magician
said: "Here is a blue balloon and here is one of the color-tipped sticks.
One member of the audience has been kind enough to choose another
of the color sticks and no one knows which color he selected. We know
he does not have one of the colors which I happened to get. Neither
could he have a blue because I took out that stick before I blew up this
blue balloon. Now I am going to ask if the gentleman will please re-
move his hand from the end of the stick and hold up the stick so every-
one can see the color he selected. The color is red! Watch the balloon."
The magician touched the balloon with the tip of the color stick
he held. There was a bang and the blue balloon changed to a red
balloon.
Choose a Color •
77
The trick is colorful and most surprising. From the magician's

viewpoint it is a wonderful trick because it almost works itself. Every-
thing the magician has to do is completed before the show starts.
The way the balloon changes color is simplicity itself. All that
one does is give it the slightest jab with the point of a pin. The pin is
glued in a hole in one of the color sticks the magician takes out of the
container at the beginning of the trick. No more than !^2 inch of pin-
point extends beyond the end of the stick. The secret of the color chang-
ing balloon is that one balloon is blown up inside another. The outer
balloon has a little more air in it than the inner one. That leaves a
small airspace between the two balloons. When the pinpoint is stuck
into the outer balloon it bursts, the rubber snaps back to the magician's
hand, and the inner balloon is revealed. To be certain that the inner
balloon cannot be seen through the outer one, it is best to have an inner
balloon of a lighter color. To prepare the trick, one balloon is pushed

inside another. This can be done easily and safely with the rubber tip of
a pencil. Both balloons are then inflated. The tube of the inner balloon
is knotted or tied with string. Then a little more air is blown into the
outer balloon. The tube of the outer balloon is tied around the inner
tube with string. Then the balloon is ready for the performance. Figure
1 shows the outer balloon; the dotted lines indicate the inner one.
It is easy to make the spectator choose a stick of a particular color
and yet the person is always convinced he had a free choice. He is sure
he did exactly what the magician did when he picked out sticks of dif-
ferent colors. In fact, it makes no difference at all which stick the spec-
tator chooses. At the time he is permitted to choose, every stick in the

container bears the same color. The magician drew sticks of different
colors because those sticks had tiny black dots in the centers of the top
ends. The magician takes out of the container only the three sticks
having dotted ends. The size of the container plays an important part
in making the magician's job easy. See Figure 2.
A frozen-orange- juice can makes a perfect container, for it is just
the right size and shape — 4 inches high with a 2 inch opening. After
the lid is removed, the can is washed, dried, and decorated. Perhaps
the simplest way to make an attractive container out of the tin can is to
cover it with adhesive-backed paper. Such paper may be found in stores
selling housewares. Very little paper is needed, it is not expensive, and
comes in manv different solid colors and in designs of contrasting
colors. It is well to put the paper on the inside as well as the outside
of the container. Painting the can gives it a good appearance, but in-
volves more effort than papering.
The color-tipped sticks are best made from Vs-inch dowel sticks.
Dowel sticks may be purchased cheaply in most lumber yards, and in
many hardware stores. Dowel sticks are always sold in 3-foot lengths.
dot indicating magician's special sticks
colored ends
So that they will extend beyond the top of the container and also be
easy to pick out, the sticks should be 5 inches long. Seven such sticks
can be cut from one dowel. Cutting up three dowel sticks will give
enough of the 5-inch long sticks to do the trick. If four dowels are used
in making the color sticks, the trick is even more impressive.
As the sticks must be exactly the same length, it is advisable to
make a form for cutting them. To do this, nail two strips of wood on a
board. One strip is exactly 5 inches long. The other, a short strip, is
put at right angles at the end of the longer one. The end of the dowel
is put against the short strip and pressed up against the long strip,
which holds the dowel as it is sawed. Make the saw cut at the end of the
saw here
paint this area
mi
long strip. See Figure 3. The finer the teeth on the saw, the better the
result.
The same kind of form, except tliat the long strip only 4
is inches
long, will he helpful in making the 5-inch sticks before painting the
ends. Hold a pencil at the end of the strip and
turn the dowel to mark
it. See Figure 4. When this is done to all the sticks, each will have a
pencil line going all the way around and exactly 1 inch from
its end.
It is then easy to paint the sticks evenly and attractively.
Color the ends
of the sticks with water colors. Remember all but three of the sticks
should be painted red.
Finally put a pin in the end of one of the odd-colored

sticks. If
no drill of exactly the same diameter of a
common pin is handy another
pin can be used. Snip off the head of the pin with
wire cutters and put
!
Choose a Color •
81
the pin into a drill stock as if it were a drill. The drilling should be
done very slowly so as not to bend the pin. Be careful to make the hole
straight. The hole does not need to be more than V4 inch deep. Then
the other pin should be cut Va inch from its point. With pliers push the
blunt end of the pinpoint into the hole in the stick until only the small-
est bit sticks out. X balloon will burst with a tinv prick and the pinpoint
should be invisible. The magician knows which stick has the pinpoint
by its color.
This trick is named "Choose a Color" for that is exactly what the
spectator believes that he does. It is a good name, because it does not
give the audience any advance notice of what is going to occur.
In Spain, it is called 'Escoga un Color, por Favor" — "Please
Choose a Color."
• 9-
Jadoo
In India for centuries all street performers of magic used a small odd-
shaped drum. It had two drumheads and was beaten by a bead on the
end of a string tied to the drum. By twisting his wrist, the magician hit
first one drumhead with the bead and then the other. The sound pro-
duced was half drum and half rattle. This instrument is called the
drum of Siva after one of the Hindu trinity, the god of the arts. Like
the gong used by Chinese magicians, the drum of Siva announced the
start of a magic show. People were attracted by the odd sound of the
drum and knew what it meant. Drums were formerly made of wood
and shaped like an hourglass. Today magicians' drums may still be
seen in India but many of them have straight sides because they are
made of topless and bottomless tin cans.
One day, in the city of Jaipur, I heard the rattle of a drum of Siva
and followed the sound. One trick the magician did particularly inter-
ested me because, at the sound of the drum, the trick seemed to happen
without the magician doing anything.
The magician showed the audience a loop of hea\T but soft white
cord, its ends joined by a tassel. Next he showed a stick which had
knobs at each end. He hung the loop of cord on the stick. Then he
83
wound the cord around and around the stick, about a dozen times. The
magician held the stick up so everyone could see that the stick was
bound by the cord. Next, holding the stick wrapped in the cord in one
hand, he picked up the rattle drum with his other hand. He twisted the
drum so that the bead beat alternately on the heads of the drum and the
cord unwound itself from the stick and dropped to the floor. The effect
of the cord unwinding itself was amazing.
The cord is exactly what it seems to be — heavy, soft, and white.

The cord I use is about Vs inch in diameter and is meant for wrapping
packages. The tassel is not at all tricky but has to have some weight.
Purchase a number of small iron washers and glue them together in a
stack. This will make a heavv metal weight with a hole through the
middle. A piece of colored cloth may be glued around the washers to

make the weight attractive in appearance. The ends of the cord are
knotted together about 3 inches from the end. Push the ends sticking
out from the knot through the hole in the weight. Tie another hard knot
in the strings so that the weight is held between the two knots. Ravel
the ends of the string into a tassel.
The stick is a ¥2- inch dowel 12 inches long. At either end attach
a small wooden knob. Small-size wooden drawer pulls with 1-inch
knobs are perfect. They can be purchased at most hardware stores and
have holes in their bases for screws which are used to fasten the pulls
to drawers. Glue the pulls and dowel together by drilling a hole in each
end of the dowel stick, and inserting wood plugs long enough to extend
beyond the dowel and go into the pulls. This will hold the pulls to the
dowel firmly. It is possible to glue the pulls directly to the dowel with-
out using any wood plugs or drilling into the dowel, but this method is
not quite so secure.

Jadoo •
85
So far, both the cord and stick are exactly as they appear to be.
But in order to do the trick, one secret thing has to be done to the dowel
stick. In the exact center, halfway between the ends, drill a tiny hole
about halfway through the stick. This hole should be the size of an ordi-
nary straight pin. It is best to use a drill of the proper size but, if the
work is done carefully and slowly, it is quite possible to use a pin in-
stead of a drill. Finally, with wire cutters, a pin should be cut off % inch
from its head. This short pin is put into the hole in the dowel so that
the head extends Vb inch from the side of the dowel. The hole should
be large enough so that the pin can be withdrawn easily, but not so
large that the pin will fall out. Figure 1 shows both the finished stick
and the cord with its weighted tassel.
washers to be covered with colored cloth
In a performance, the magician begins by hanging the loop of cord

over the center of the stick. The cord is hung at the center of the stick
to the magician's left of the pin. The cord should go right against the
pin. Always hold the stick so the pin points directly toward you. The
spectators never should see or even know about the pin. When the loop
of cord is hung on the stick the right hand manipulates the cord and
the left hand holds the stick. See Figure 2.
After the cord has been hung on the stick, show both stick and
cord so the audience has a chance to see that everything is fair and
aboveboard. Then put your left thumb on the very top of the string
and press it against the stick. With your right hand take hold of the
cord, 2 or 3 inches below the stick, raise it, and begin to wrap the
cord around the stick. In wrapping, the magician catches the cord under
the pin. See Figure 3. Wrap the cord exactly four times around the
Jadoo • 87
stick. The trick will not work if the cord is wôund around the stick
too few or too many times. Making certain of the number of turns of the
cord around the stick is the magician's hardest job in performing this
trick. Figure 4 indicates the way the cord appears at this stage of the
trick. Then all the loops are pushed to the center of the stick until they
are tightly together.
Now take hold of the stick with vour right hand and with vour
left hand wind the cord exactly four times around the stick. Again wind
(H ^//////„ I}
the cord toward the spectators. Because the magician has switched
hands no one notices that he is winding the cord in the opposite direc-
tion from the way he wound the cord with the right hand. Actually the
magician unwinds the cord with his left hand the same number of times
he wound the cord around the stick with his right hand. Figure 5
shows the way cord and stick appear when the left-hand winding is
completed. Then the left loops are pushed tightly against the right
loops.
removing pin
thumb holds cord in place
At this point in the trick only the pin holds the cord on the stick.
The instant the pin is pulled out of the stick the cord will unwind due
to the pull of the weight in the tassel. However, to make sure the audi-
ence has no idea of the method, the pin has to be removed in a way
that will not be noticed. Here is a good way to take out the pin:
1. Transfer the stick from right hand to left. Grasp the head of
the pin with your left thumb and first finger as your other three fingers
press against the stick. See Figure 6.
2. Point with your right hand to the knobs at each end of the stick
and to the weighted tassel hanging below. While pointing, remind the
audience that the string has been wound around the stick many times.
Stress also that the string cannot slide off the stick because of the knobs
at the ends, and that the ends of the string have been tied together to
make a tassel.
3. Again change the hand holding the stick. In taking the stick
in your right hand press the thumb on top of the string. Holding the
string by the thumb is necessary because otherwise the string will un-
wind the instant the pin is removed.
4. As soon as the right hand is properly in position holding the
stick, take away your left hand, with the pin. Keep your left hand mov-
ing — steadily but not rapidlv — to the table. Pick up the rattle drum
from the table. As vour fingers open above the table to grasp the drum,
release the pin and it will drop to the table unseen.
When these four steps are followed, no one will see the pin re-
moved from the stick or have any reason to be suspicious.
With his left hand the magician plays the drum of Siva. As soon
as he has made a suitable amount of sound with the drum, he removes
his right thumb from the string. The weight will pull the string, the
string will unwind and fall from the stick, and the magician has com-
pleted a very satisfactory and amazing feat of magic.
Playing on the drum adds greatly to the effect of this trick. People
are interested in the story about the drum of the Indian magician and
the rattling sound makes the trick more dramatic. From the viewpoint
of the magician it is well worth while, for its use is helpful in aiding
him to remove the pin from the stick. The drum is not difficult to make
but it does require time to put together.
The drum is made out of a small tin can, two pieces of leather, a
length of fishline, and a heavy bead. The can I use is 3^4 inches high
by 2% inches in diameter. Cut out both ends of the can. The outside
of the can should be painted brown, or red, or any dark color. The pur-
pose of painting is to camouflage the can. The leather, which can be

purchased from a shoemaker if none can be found around the house,
should be thin and flexible. Enough leather is needed for two disks,
each at least 1 inch larger than the diameter of the can. The leather
should be soaked in water for forty-eight hours so that it can be

string
string
stretched when put on the can. While the leather is wet, lace it to the
can.
To lace the pieces of leather together, follow these four steps.
First, put a leather disk over one end of the can and pull it as flat as
possible over the opening. Then tie a string tightlv at the verv top of
the can and around the leather. A short skirt of leather should stick
out below the string all around the can. Second, tie the other leather
piece in the same way to the other end of the can. Third, make a series
of holes in the leather skirts for the lacing. A small awl can be used
to make the holes, or a verv large needle. Make one hole at a time and
pull the fishline through. Any strong string can be used but I never
found anvthing better than fishline. The laces should be strung diago-
nallv from top to bottom. See Figure 7. One lace should go all the way
around the can — a minimum of 1 yard of line is required.
92 • Maîc of th% World
When the fishline or string is first threaded through the leather,

it is not pulled really tight. After the string has gone all the way around
pull it tighter. Tie the ends of the fishline together in a bow knot which
can be untied easily. Then remove the strings which, at the beginning,
held the leather disks in place. After a few hours, the fishline should be
pulled tighter. Once more this is possible because the wet leather has
stretched. A few hours later, the string should be tightened again.
When the string can be pulled no tighter, the string ends are tied to-
gether with a tight, hard knot. The knot must be exactly halfway be-
tween the top and bottom of the can. Leave the ends of the string uncut.
As the leather dries the drumheads will become tighter and
tighter but it will take two or three days for the leather to be completely
dry and the heads really taut. The final step in making the drum is
threading on the bead and firmly tving it to the fishline ends which
head
:
Jadoo • 93
come out of the knot. Tie the bead so that it will reach the center of the
top drumhead or in moving the bead in the opposite direction, the
center of the bottom drumhead.
To play the drum, hold your thumb almost against the knot at the
center of the can. Press your fingers against the opposite side of the
can. See Figure 8. As you turn your wrist back and forth, the bead
will hit first one drumhead and then the other.
"Jadoo" is an Indian word for all magic and so this feat and
every other trick is jadoo. The first syllable of the word is pronounced
Uke the "ja" in "jasper," and the second syllable is the same as the
English word "do." A magician in India is a "jadoo-wollah." "Wol-

lah" is an Indian suffix which means "one connected with." It is pro-
nounced "wo," as in the English word "woe," and "la" as in the "la,
ti, do" of the musical scale.

• 10 •
Der Rote Geist
An over the world there are people who believe in ghosts, fairies, and
gnomes. Stories about strange creatures are often useful for a magi-
cian's patter. In Vienna as a magician performed a trick called "Der

Rote Geist," "The Red Ghost," he told a stor>' about a ghost's ability
to go through walls, locked doors, and every other kind of barrier.

The magician apologized to his audience for being unable to get
a real ghost to help him in his performance. But he assured everyone
that a ghost had taught him the secret method used to pass through
wood, steel, or stone, and also the secret of invisibility. He would show
how these feats could be done with the help of the red ghost.
The magician called attention to a paper tube standing on end on

a table. He raised the tube and disclosed three wooden blocks standing
one on top of another. The blocks were round columns with flat ends;
all were the same size. One of the blocks had been colored red and the
other two were natural wood color. The magician took the stack of
blocks, showed each block, and placed them in a row upon the table.
When he showed the red block he said, "And this is the red ghost."
Then the magician showed two small thin wood squares. They were
95
identical in size; each was just big enough to cover an end of the tube.
See Figure 1.
The magician placed one wood square on the table and the tube
in turn on the square. Then he slowly dropped one block at a time into
the top of the tube. The audience could see the blocks going into the
tube and could hear them fall onto the wood square and onto one an-
other. The first two blocks put into the tube were natural wood color.
The red block was dropped in last. Then the magician placed the sec-
ond wood square on top of the tube as a cover.

The magician impressed upon the audience that the red block
was the last block dropped into the tube, on top of the other two. He
said, "My little red ghost will now show its power by passing through
the two solid blocks of wood and going from the top to the bottom of
the tube." The magician then slowly raised the tube. Everyone could
see that now the red block was at the bottom, and the two natural-color
blocks were on top of it.
The magician replaced the tube over the column of blocks. He

Der Rote Geist •
97
proceeded to pick up the tube and blocks by holding the wood squares
at each end. Next, very slowly, he turned the tube upside down and
replaced it on the table. He asked everyone to remember that in turn-
ing the tube he was reversing the column of blocks so that the red
block would be on top again. He said the red ghost once more could
show its power by passing through the two blocks and going back to
the bottom of the pile. The tube was taken off the blocks and again the
red block appeared at the bottom of the pile.
The magician then separated the blocks and put the two natural-
colored blocks inside the tube. The tube stood on one wooden square
and the other wooden square was replaced on top of the tube. The
magician picked up the red block with his left hand and stepped away
from the table. He told the audience to watch as he put the little red
ghost into the inside pocket of his jacket. As he made this statement he
very deliberately put his hand inside his jacket and dropped the red
block into his pocket. When he brought his hand out of his jacket he
was careful to show it was empty. Then he dropped both hands to his
sides.
Standing quite still, the magician said, "I am going to ask my

little red ghost to make itself invisible, to go through the cloth of my
jacket, to fly across and go right through the walls of that tube, to put
itself between the two blocks and once more make itself visible."
The magician then pulled open his jacket with his right hand
and with his left hand, reached into his pocket and pulled it inside
out. As he did this he said, "My little red ghost has disappeared as
ghosts so often do. Now we'll see if it has followed the rest of my
orders."
Back at the table the magician took the tube off the blocks and.
sure enough, there was the red block, in between the other two blocks.
The objects the audience sees — the paper tube, the three blocks,
and the two wooden squares — are all exactly as they appear to be. An
extra red block is the secret of the trick. Only the magician knows it
exists. Another thing the spectators do not know is that the magician's
every move follows an exact planned sequence. After the description
of the way the tricks are done, instructions for making each item
needed will be given.

At the start of the performance, the magician has on his table the
paper tube, four blocks, and the two wooden squares. The tube is a
little longer than the height of the four blocks, standing one on top of
another. The audience can see only the tube and the wooden squares.
All the blocks are out of sight inside the tube. The two natural-colored
blocks are at the bottom of the tube and the two red blocks are on top
of them. When the magician takes the tube off the blocks he squeezes
the tube gripping the top red block. This is easv to do, for the tube is
made of paper and flexible. By looking casually into the top of the tube,
the magician can make sure he is raising the top red block with the
tube. He must be careful to lift the tube straight up so as not to topple
the pile of blocks.
At this point in the trick, the magician, holding the tube near the
top, as well as holding the block inside the tube which the audience
does not know about, points the bottom of the tube toward the blocks.
He uses the tube as a pointer and he holds the tube so that the specta-
tors are able to see partway inside. Giving the audience a chance to see
inside the tube, even if only part way, is a means of proving the tube
is merelv a paper roll — as it reallv is. Because only the magician
knows about the extra block, the audience never will imagine one
exists.
Der Rote Geist •
99
Then the magician transfers the tube to his other hand. He seems
to do this onlv to pick up the blocks more easily and show them one
at a time. But in fact he has another reason which is ver> important to
the trick — the wav he puts the tube in the other hand. He sets the bot-
tom of the tube on his outstretched hand and lightly grips it with the
fingers and thumb of that hand. See Figure 2. As soon as that hand
has grasped the tube the magician releases the fingers which first held
the tube. This permits the hidden block to slide down the tube and
rest on his hand. When the magician transfers the tube from one hand
to another, he holds it almost flat, not up and down, so that the block
will slide noiselessly inside the tube rather than fall with a loud
thump.
After the tube has been transferred from one hand to the other,
the magician picks up, shows, and replaces on the table the three
blocks and the two little wooden squares. The objects are shown one at
a time so the audience has a good chance to see that each is solid wood.
The magician stands the paper tube on end on top of one of the
wooden squares. In doing this he again transfers the tube from one
hand to the other, and in changing hands he takes hold of the tube near
the bottom. This is the end of the tube where the extra red block is
hidden. The magician grips the tube tightly enough to hold the block
inside. As the tube is placed on the table, the top end is tilted toward
the spectators. This again gives everyone a chance to see partway into
the tube and, at the same time, keeps anyone from catching sight of the
extra block.
Once the tube is standing on the wooden square on the table, the
magician does only what the audience sees him do. Remember, no one
knows that a red block is already in the tube. The magician picks up
and drops the three blocks into the top of the tube one after the other.
First he puts the two natural-colored blocks into the tube and drops
the red block in last. There are four blocks in the tube — a red block
at the bottom of the pile (the one only the magician knows about), then
the two natural wood blocks, and the other red one on top.
The magician tells his audience that the red ghost will go from
the top of the pile to the bottom. To show that the red block made its
trip, the magician raises the tube. In picking up the tube he squeezes
it, holding the top block exactly as he did at the beginning of the trick.
The magician removes the tube from the pile but does not touch the
blocks in the pile.
Next, the magician replaces the tube over the pile of blocks. As
soon as the tube is over the blocks and standing upright, the magician
releases the tube. Once more there are four blocks inside the tube with
one red block at the bottom and the other at the top. The magician then
turns the tube and its blocks upside down. This is easy to do because
he holds a wooden square over each end. The magician turns the tube
very slowly. The audience believes he wishes everyone to see how
fairlv he acts but in fact it is easier to turn the tube slowly.
When the tube is turned over, the blocks are exactly the same as
before the turn was made — a red block at the bottom and another red
at the top, with the two natural wood blocks in the middle.
Der Rote Geist • 101
Again the magician announces that the red ghost will go from the
top of the pile to the bottom. Again the magician lifts off the tube ex-
actly as he did before, holding within it the extra red block. The magi-
cian holds the tube with one hand, and with the other, separates the
three blocks in the pile and spreads them about on the table. Next he
puts one of the natural wood blocks on a wooden square and covers it
with the tube. He is still holding onto the tube, apparently to keep it
upright. Actually, he is holding the tube to keep the red block near the
top of the tube. See Figure 3.
Immediately, the magician picks up the other natural-color block

and puts it into the top of the tube. As soon as he feels that block touch
the hidden red block, he stops squeezing the tube so that both blocks
will fall together. This is not hard to do but must be practiced in private
hidden red block
r^
in order to avoid a double sound when the two blocks fall inside the
tube. At this point, although the audience does not know it, there is a
red block between the two natural-wood blocks inside the tube. Except
for removing the tube from the blocks, which is done later, this part of
the trick is completed. All the magician has to do now is to make the
extra red block disappear, or, as he says, "become invisible."
Because of the way jackets are made, it is easv to make the red
block disappear. ^Tien the magician puts the red block inside his
jacket, he pushes it into the top of his sleeve. The magician tells his
audience to "watch as I put the little red ghost into the inside pocket
of my jacket." The spectators cannot see that he puts the block into his
sleeve rather than in his pocket. As soon as the red block is in his
sleeve, the magician slides the fingers of his left hand onto the top of
his pocket. Then, with his right hand, he holds his jacket open so the
spectators can see him "push the red block down into the pocket."
The magician withdraws his fingers from the pocket and, as he does so,
makes sure that everyone can see that his hand is empty. He then closes
his jacket and tells his audience what he wants his little red ghost to do.
With his right hand, he opens his jacket again, and with his left
hand turns his pocket inside out to show that the block has disap-
peared.
Finally, the magician goes back to the table and takes the tube off
the blocks to show that the ghost has made its invisible journey.
A sleeve should and probably will be tight enough to hold the
extra block. If the sleeve is so loose that the block might slide down,
squeeze the upper arm against the body to hold the block in place.
With practice the rest of the arm and hand can still be used in the
normal way.
Der Rote Geist • 103
If this is the last trick shown, the block can be left in the sleeve
until the magician is alone. When it is not the final trick, the magician
very naturally pushes the pocket back in place in his jacket. As he does
this he takes the block out of the sleeve and drops it in fact into the
pocket. Of course, before the show, the magician has made sure the
pocket is emptv so that it can be pulled inside out.

All that is required for the trick are the four blocks of wood, the
paper tube, and the two squares. The best and easiest way to make the
blocks is to buy a dowel stick 1 inch in diameter. Four pieces, each 1^2
inches long, should be cut off the dowel stick. To insure that the blocks
will have flat ends, so that one will stand on top of another, it is safest
to cut them in a miter box. Be certain they are all exactly the same
length. After the blocks are cut, smooth them with fine sandpaper. Two
of the blocks should be natural color and the other two colored red.
The red blocks can be colored with red ink or red watercolor.
Use the rest of the dowel stick to make the paper tube. First, wind
a piece of newspaper or wrapping paper tightly around the stick and
paste or fasten the end with plastic tape. Use enough paper to make
the stick 1V4 inches in diameter. Fashion the tube around this paper-
padded stick. It should be just large enough to go over the blocks, and
also the right size to hold a block inside by squeezing the outside.
Choose a fairlv heavy paper for the tube and to give added strength,
wrap it twice around the dowel stick. The tube should be 6M inches
long, that is, % inch longer than the height of the pile of four blocks.
If you select a glazed paper or fancy wrapping paper for the tube, you
will add to the effect of the trick. Paste the paper securely at the inner
and at the outer edge.
The two squares for the top and bottom of the tube should meas-
ure about 2 inches and be the same size. They have a better appearance
if they are made of thin wood which has been smoothed with sandpa-
per, but they can also be made of cardboard if it is heavy enough not
to bend.
When the Viennese magician performed this trick everyone in
his audience knew of course that the story he told was not true. But
because he told it very seriously, and everything that he said would

happen did happen, the outlandish explanation amused everyone.
• 11 •
Taeina Metal
JVlagicians in Japan always have attractive equipment. They are wise,
for everything a magician uses in his show should be meticulously good

looking. In Tokyo a fine magician showed me an excellent trick using
four handsome articles: a small, square black lacquer tray, completely

flat; a small paper cup which was dark red with a gold design; a silver-
colored cube about 1 inch across; a square of soft white paper.
The magician put the lacquered tray on the table. On the tray,
upside down, stood the paper cup. He lifted the cup and held it in the
air. The cup covered the silver-colored cube. The magician picked up
the cube and replaced the cup upside down on the tray. He put the
cube on the table and took the soft paper square from his pocket. He
unfolded the soft paper, held it out, and showed both sides. Then he
picked up the cube and wrapped it in the soft paper. He squeezed the
paper until it was a small wad. It was obvious that the silver cube had
disappeared, for the tiny wad of paper was too small to hold the cube.
Pocketing the paper wad, the magician returned to the inverted paper
cup. He lifted the cup and disclosed the cube. He picked it up and
105
Tagina Metal • 107
dropped it. The sound of the cube hitting the table showed the cube
was solid and had considerable weight.
The Japanese magician talked all during the performance. I do
not know Japanese so I cannot repeat his story. But because a story
makes a trick more interesting and easier to follow, here is patter that
can be used when performing the trick.
"Everyone knows about homing pigeons, which have the ability
to find their wav home even when carried a great distance. In Japan,
magicians have been working to find if they could give this ability to
inanimate objects. Lately they have been trying out a silver-colored

metal called 'tagina.' I have a cube of such rare metal under this cup.
Here it is. I'll use this piece of soft white paper to wrap up the metal
cube. I'll stand away from the cup as I twist the paper around the cube.
Now watch as I squeeze the paper until the cube is gone. If the metal
has been properly trained it should go back under the cup. Good, it has
gone back."
The work the magician does before the show for this trick is of the
greatest importance. The magician makes a metal cube which will dis-
appear when it is wrapped in a piece of soft white paper. The cube can
be squeezed together because it is hollow and is made of aluminum
foil. This shell cube is made to look exactlv like the solid cube also
used in the trick. How both these cubes are made will be described
later.
The little tray is flat and about 3V2 inches square. It may be made
of thin wood or cardboard, and should be attractively painted or cov-
ered with paper. The tray has nothing tricky about it. It is used to
carry the inverted paper cup and cube to the table when the magician
shows the trick. The tray makes it possible to have both the solid cube
and the shell cube under the cup without the audience knowing about
either at the beginning of the trick.
Right after he tells his audience about having a special metal
cube under the cup, the magician picks up the cup to show the cube.
The audience sees only one cube because the solid second cube is hid-
den inside the cup. The cup is an ordinary, flat-bottomed paper cup
with a round hole cut in the side. See Figure 1. The hole is cut about
Vi inch above the rim of the cup. The easiest way to mark the circle to
be cut is to press a nickel against the outside of the cup and to draw a
audience
pencil line around the coin. Make the hole by following the pencil line
and cutting the paper with a pair of small scissors.
The cup should be lifted from the tray with the right hand and the
magician should stand so the cup is at his right. Of course, when the cup
is brought before the audience, the hole is at the back of the cup where
no one can see it. When picking up the cup, your thumb is on the side
of the cup toward the audience and your fingers are at the back of the
cup. If you place your little finger on the tray, your third finger will go
into the hole without anv trouble. The finger inside the cup presses the
solid cube against the wall of the cup and holds it there when the cup
is raised. This is very easy to do but, in preparing the show, the magi-
cian must have the cubes placed properly under the cup so the finger
touches the solid cube. Remember also not to tip the cup so the audi-
ence can see inside it when it is raised. Hold the cup in the air until the
shell cube has been picked up from the tray and set aside on the table.
The cup then is replaced on the tray, and with it, the hidden solid
cube. At this point, the very beginning of the trick as far as the audi-
ence is concerned, the magician has completed the trick, because the
solid cube, which no one knows about, is under the cup.
The magician takes the soft paper square from his pocket, un-
folds it, and holds it up for the audience to see. The best paper to use
is a facial tissue. These are usually double tissues which can be pulled
apart easily; a single thickness is exactly right for the trick.
After the audience has had a chance to see the paper, the magi-
cian wraps it around the shell cube. When the cube is completely cov-
ered with paper, the magician squeezes the paper into a tiny ball.
When this is done slowly, the cube seems to completely dissolve.
To make the solid and shell cubes for this trick follow the steps
shown in Figures 2 and 3. One needs a piece of wood several inches
long, not less than % inch square or more than 1 inch square. Cut off
one end. The piece cut off should be exactly as long as it is thick and
construction of
fake cube
)
wide, in other words, a cube. The cutting is best done in a miter box.
Save the rest of the squared stick to use as the form for making shell
cubes. Draw a line around the four sides of the stick. This line is the
same distance from the end of the stick as the height of the cube. Mak-
construction of real cube
cut here •
cardboard
1 1 1
.
i
1
/lJ
/
1 ! 1 1
aluminum foil
actual (separate) cube

ing the stick and cube is not difficult but the jobs should be done
slowly and with great care, for the work has to be exact.
Next, two rectangular flat pieces have to be made out of card-
board. These are needed only as patterns for cutting the aluminum foil,
but they too have to be exact in measurement. Each piece of cardboard
is five times as long as the wood is thick. For example, if the stick is
M inch thick, the cardboards are made 5 X ^/^ or 3% inches long.
Make one piece of cardboard three times as wide as the thickness of
the stick and the other twice as wide. When these cardboards are
placed on the aluminum foil, which has been put on a flat surface, it is
simple to cut the foil with the point of a penknife. Because the card-
board forms are exact in size, the aluminum foil can be cut correctly
and kept from wrinkling.
Use the larger piece of aluminum foil to cover the wooden cube.
This has to be covered to make the solid cube look exactly like the
shell. The shell cube has a top and four sides but no bottom. Because
it has no bottom the shell may be pressed into a wad more easily. Be-
cause only the bottom is missing the shell can be shown as if it were a
solid cube. The magician onlv needs to remember never to show the
open side to the audience.
To make the shell, put the short end of the smaller piece of alumi-
num foil against one side of the stick. The edge of the foil must be
exactly at the edge of the side of the wood. Then very carefully wrap
the foil around the stick. The foil is just long enough to make a double
thickness on one side. This overlap should be pasted together. Be
careful not to get any paste on the wood.

When the paste is dry the foil should be pressed against the stick.
This pressing removes any wrinkles the foil might have and makes the
corners sharp. The aluminum foil then is slid along the stick until the
end is even with the line drawn on the stick. Take care not to touch
this exposed part of the thin metal, as it will collapse. With a pair of
small straight scissors, cut each corner of the open aluminum all the
way down to the wood. While one hand cuts, the other hand holds the
aluminum in position on the stick. After the cutting, there will be four
tongues (one of double thickness) sticking out from the end of the
stick. Each of these tongues is pressed down against the end of the
stick of wood. Again, remember to hold the aluminum right at the line
drawn on the wood. After one tongue is in place, put a dab of paste on
it so the next tongue will stick to it. After the paste is dry the shell can
be pulled off the stick. The top of the shell which has five thicknesses
of the foil pasted together is the most solid part of the open cube. Al-
ways handle the cube by the edges of the top to keep it from collapsing.
Because the shell cube collapses so easily it should be kept in a small
box until it is time to get the show ready. Once the shell has been
pressed together it is almost impossible to straighten it out again. I
have made a number of the square sticks of wood upon which the shells
are made. I leave the shell on the wood until just before the show.
The aluminum covering for the solid cube is made in very much
the same way the shell is made. The big difference is, of course, that
all six sides of the solid cube are covered with foil. The larger piece of
aluminum is used for this reason. At the beginning, when the foil is
wrapped around the stick, hold the cube at the end of the stick. This
is to ensure that the cube will go into the foil. Then slide the foil along
the stick and cube until it reaches the line on the stick. Cut, fold, and
paste one end. Then take the cube away from the stick and cut, fold,
and paste the other end. If carefully done, the solid cube will look so
much like the shell that the magician can tell the difference only by
lifting them.
Giving the traveling metal the name of "tagina" is appropriate,
for that is the Japanese word for "magic." The first syllable of "tagina"
is pronounced like the "ta" in "take." The second syllable is said as is
the "gi '

in "ginger." The "a" in the last syllable has the same sound
as in the words "pa" and "ma." The syllables are equally accented.
• 12 •
Maza Cassa
One dav. in a small town in Italv. not far from the ruins of Pompeii,
a musician was placing an odd-looking brass horn. His clothes were as
unusual as his horn. He wore a hat with a large floppy brim and a vers"
long feather. His green knee-length coat was embroidered with all the
signs of the zodiac. Soon about thirty people gathered around the man.
\^Tien he finished his tune, the man laid his horn on a small table by
his side and began to talk to the group. One of the first words he said
was "magia."
The man had played his horn to attract a crowd. He was adyertis-
ing a performance of magic. After the magician finished his introduc-
tion and bowed, he took three little boxes from his pocket. These boxes
had drawers which could be pushed open. They looked like small
matchboxes. He opened the drawer of each box so even one could see
the boxes were empty. Then he placed the open boxes on his table and
asked one of the spectators for a coin. The audience laughed but one
man finally handed the magician a copper coin somewhat smaller than
a penny. The magician dropped the coin into one of the boxes and
115
Maza Cassa • 117
closed the drawer of that box. Then he closed the drawers of the other
two, still empty, boxes.

Whenever the magician mentioned one of these boxes he called
it "maza cassa." That is the Neapolitan way of saying "half box" and
of course, means a little box.
After the magician had closed all the boxes he put them in a pile,
one on top of another. He told the audience, "You remember I put the
maza cassa holding the coin on top of the pile." As he said this, he
picked up the top box of the pile and shook it so everyone could hear
the coin as it rattled against the sides of the box. After he had shaken
the box he replaced it on top of the pile.
The magician then told his audience that he would, by magic,
transfer the coin from the top box of the pile to the bottom box. Having
said his magic word, "Presto," he picked up the top box, opened the
drawer, and showed the audience that the box was empty. He showed
them that the second box of the pile was also empty. Then he opened
the bottom box and there indeed was the coin.
To begin the second stage of the trick, the magician again closed
all the boxes and put them in a pile, one on top of another. He told the
audience, "As you recall, the coin is now in the bottom box of the
pile." He took the two top boxes from the pile and set them aside. He
picked up the remaining bottom box and shook it so the coin inside
rattled. Then he put the box back on the table and replaced the two
other boxes on top of it.
The magician told his audience, "A moment ago you saw that, by
my magic, I was able to make that borrowed coin go from the top box
to the bottom box. Now, by saying the same word, Tresto,' I shall
make the coin rise out of the bottom box and go into the top box."
Then, opening the top box, the magician showed the coin had returned.
He also opened the other two boxes and showed that they were empty.
The magician once more closed all three boxes. He said to his
audience, "I shall now show you an even more amazing feat. I shall put
one maza cassa at this corner of the table, and another maza cassa at
this corner. The third maza cassa I shall stand on its side, like a fence,
halfway between the other two." Picking up the box at one corner of
the table and shaking it, the magician continued, "You remember this
is the maza cassa containing the coin and you can hear that it still is
inside." After shaking the box, the magician replaced it on the corner
of the table.
"Now," said the magician, "by my magic I shall make the coin
leave this box, go right through the fence, and into the box at the other
corner of the table. Presto!"

He picked up the first box and shook it. There was no sound and
he put the box back on the table. He reached over to the box at the
opposite corner and shook it and the rattle of the coin could be heard.
That box, too, he replaced on the table.

"Now," said the magician, "again I say 'Presto' and the coin will
jump back across the table." He shook the box where the coin had been
and there was no sound. Then, with full confidence, he picked up the
other box and shook it. Again no sound. The magician looked sur-
prised. He put that box down and, once more, picked up the first box
and shook it. Still no sound. Putting down that box he again picked up
and shook the second box. Once more no rattle.
The magician looked at his audience and said, "The coin seems
to have disappeared and all I can do is to give a coin of the same value
to the gentleman who trusted me."
Maza Cassa • 119
Then, as if he were about to pick up all his boxes and put them
away, the magician picked up the middle box which had been acting as
the fence. As he picked up the box, the magician tilted it. Then he be-
gan to smile and tilted the box the other way. The rattle of a coin was
heard. He quickly opened the box and turned it over so the coin fell
on the table.
The magician picked up the coin and said, as he handed it to its
owner, "Here, my friend, 1 want to return your coin before an\1;hing

else happens to it. And thank you for permitting me to use it."
The trick, when perfectly done, is completely mystifying. The

performance is not at all difficult but the success of the trick depends
upon the magician's memory. He has only to do a number of very

simple acts but he has to carefully memorize the order in which they
are done. In the performance he must follow that memorized order
without skipping a detail. Leave out details of a trick, or put the details
in the wTong order, and there is no magic.

The "Maza Cassa" trick depends upon memorizing and following
the order of a series of actions. It also depends upon the magician's
abilitv to shake either of the empty boxes and convince the spectators
that they hear the coin rattling about inside the box. This is done by
having a penny in a fourth box the audience knows nothing about. The
extra box is strapped to the magician's right arm and is hidden bv the
sleeve of his jacket. It is specially made so that when the magician
raises his hand and shakes his arm, the penny will rattle in the hidden
box. But when the magician lowers his hand, the penny will make no
sound no matter how^ hard he shakes his arm.
The hidden box is made of cardboard and involves only a simple
cutting and pasting job. The design of the inside of the box permits
-
r\
>^ when penny
slides up it is
free to rattle
'^ =
the penny to rattle when the box is held one way and holds the coin
still when the box is turned over. Figure 1 shows why this is true.
The cardboard used in making the box must be thicker than a
penny. This allows the penny enough space to move about and also
ensures that the cardboard is sufficiently solid to make a sound when

the penny strikes against it. Do not use the corrugated type of card-
board. The proper kind is frequently used as the backing for a pad of
paper. If heavy enough cardboard is not available, the right thickness
may be achieved by pasting two or more pieces together.
In making the box, the first thing to do is to cut out two pieces.
Each piece is 1% inches square. Next cut a strip of cardboard Vs inch
wide and at least 4 inches long. Finally, cut two pieces of cardboard
in the shapes of jc-^c as in Figure 1. After these are cut they should be
laid on a cardboard square to make certain the penny fits. It is easiest
to do all the cutting with a penknife. Run the knife edge along the card-
board time after time until it has gone all the way through. Fairly light
pressure and a number of strokes with the knife will make the smooth-
est edge. After all the pieces are cut, put the box together.
First, paste the corner pieces {x-x) in position on one of the

Maza Cassa • 121
squares. Then pressure should be placed on the comers until the paste
has been given time to dry. Next, cut the Vs-inch-wide strip to the
proper lengths to make the edge and paste them in place. Again, pres-
sure should be applied until the paste has dried. Then put a penny in
the space made for it and paste on the top square. Care should be taken
that no paste gets on the space where the penny is to move. The top,
too, should be dried under pressure.

Once the box is made a ribbon is attached to it. The magician
uses the ribbon to hold the box in position on his arm. The ribbon
should be about 1 foot long and V4 inch (or % inch) wide. The softer
the ribbon the better. Use two small metal or plastic rings to fasten the
ends of the ribbon together. The rings are much better than a buckle
for the purpose and can be purchased at the notions counter of many
stores.
First, push one end of the ribbon through both rings. See Figure
2. About V2 inch of the ribbon goes through the rings, is folded back
and sewed to the rest of the ribbon. In this way the rings are firmly at-
tached to the end of the ribbon by a loop. The ribbon is attached to the
secret box by means of plastic tape. Care must be taken that the ribbon
is put across the box in the proper direction, as shown in Figure 3.
end brought over and

sewed to ribbon
To use the rings as a buckle, put the end of the ribbon through
both rings first. Then bring it around one ring and push it back through
the other. Figures 4, 5 and 6 make clear the various steps. To loosen
the rings' hold of the ribbon, all that needs to be done is to pull up on
the lower ring.
To put the secret box on the arm, the end of the ribbon should
first be put through the rings. The ribbon is long enough to make a loop
which will slide easily over the hand and up the arm. Put the box in
position on the underside of the arm and high enough so the sleeve will
cover it. The box can be held in place by pressing the arm against the
body. With the other hand pull the ribbon until the box is fastened
tightly to the arm. The ribbon should not be so tight that it stops circu-
lation in the arm or is uncomfortable. When the ribbon is pulled

Maza Cassa • 123
tight, there will be several inches of loose end. This end is tucked
under the ribbon band. Look at Figures 7, 8 and 9 to see the different
steps to follow in fastening the box on the arm.
tucking the excess ribbon

under the wrist band
ft
Since you know about the secret box which makes the trick pos-
sible, it would be a good idea to go back to page 115 and reread the
description of what the Italian magician made his audience believe
he did.
Now there are only two other points you need to know before
beginning to practice the trick and memorize the details. It will take a
Uttle time to do this but there should be no difficulty and the trick is so
good it is well worth the time spent in private rehearsal.
The first point is that the magician never shakes the box which
actuallv holds the coin. Only the empty boxes are shaken and the
audience always hears the sound of the penny rattling in the secret box.
The rattle always sounds the same because it always comes from the
same box.
The success of the trick depends upon the audience losing track
of the box actually holding the penny. This is accomplished by the way
the boxes are handled. As each box is shown it is put on the fingers of
selecting the matchbox

(audience view)
Maza Cassa • 125
the other hand. This later permits the magician to take a box from his
hand without the audience seeing, or knowing, which box was taken.
Figure 10 shows the wav the boxes are changed.
Remember, at the ven beginning of the trick, after all three
boxes are shown to be empt)% the penny is put in one box and the
box is closed. As soon as this is done the magician puts the box on
the fingers of his other hand. As each of the empty boxes is closed, it
too is transferred to the other hand. Drawer boxes, such as safety
matchboxes, are easy to close with one hand. Because of the way the
boxes are held, and the fact that the back of the hand is toward the
audience, no one can see the order in which the boxes are taken away
from the hand. The magician states which box contains the penny, and
shakes that box so the penny can be heard, and no one has reason to
doubt either the statement or his own ears.

The Italian magician who performed this trick used "Presto" as
a magic word. "Presto" is the Italian word for "quick" or "quickly."
In our dictionary "presto" is defined as "a magician's command."
The word has been used by magicians all over Europe for hundreds of
years. From the early part of the seventeenth century, books printed
in England gave "presto" as a good word for magical patter.

• 13 •
First American Magic
1 here were magicians performing in America long before any Euro-
pean ever saw the continent. They were, of course, American Indians.
Very few people have ever studied their magic and, even today, not
very much is known about the feats they performed. Even less is known
about the methods they used.
There are many mistaken ideas which people generally hold
about the American Indian. The mistakes began when Columbus
called the American natives "Indians." He, as you know, thought he
had reached the East Indies. Almost everyone who came later thought
that all Indians were alike and had the same culture, language, and
manners. This, of course, was not true but still is a common misunder-
standing. There are more than twenty-five different languages spoken
by various groups of North American Indians and their languages are

broken up into several hundred dialects. The religions of the American
Indians, their clothes, their food, their houses are unalike, and tribes
vary in many other ways.
It is not at all surprising that the magic of the American Indian
varies from group to group and that one tribe knows nothing about
126
First American Magic • 127
another's magic. Indian magic always has been performed as a part of
ceremonials. Some of their feats are unique. Other tricks are similar
to those performed in other countries. For example, a famous trick of
the East Indian magicians is to show the magically rapid growi;h of a
mango tree. The magicians of one group of American Indians plant a
kernel of corn and grow a flowering cornstalk in a matter of minutes.
Another tribe of Indians have magicians who can make cucumbers

grow from seed to plant in no more than an hour.
Some Indian magic is done out of doors during ceremonial
dances, but many of the most interesting feats of Indian magic are per-
formed during rituals in their ceremonial lodges. Usually the onlv light
in the lodges comes from fires and torches; the dim and flickering light
makes the magic even more mysterious. One of the best feats of indoor
magic is done by the Indians of the Southwest.

The feat produces a dancing arrow. This is what happens. The
man in charge of the magic shows a basket and an arrow. He puts the
tip of the arrow into the basket until it rests on one side of the bottom.
Then he leans the shaft of the arrow against the top of the opposite side
of the basket. The basket containing the arrow is then placed on the
ground and the magician steps back. Next, a young man is told to
dance in front of the basket. Very slowly he begins his dance. As he

dances the arrow rises on end in the basket and follows his every move-
ment. In whichever direction the dancer leans, the arrow leans. Even
though the arrow is only a ridged stick it seems to bend in its dance
in the same way as the young man.
During the performance of the dancing arrow the magician has
very little to do. His work was to train three young men for many
weeks. One was the dancer who had to learn exactly how he was to
dance and the speed in which every movement was to be made. The
other two men had to learn how to pull on, and release, a long strand
of human hair made by tying one hair to another. The strand had to
be long enough to reach from one side of the lodge to the other. The
arrow was attached to the strand of hair. With a man on each side of
the lodge working the hairs, the arrow could do its dance. As the hairs
break very easily, the men had to work most exactly in handling the
hairs. When one man pulled on a hair, the other had to let his end slide
through his fingers. And both men had to know and follow every move
of the dancer.
While that method is exceedingly difficult to do and requires end-

less practice, there is a simple way to do the trick.
The basket, instead of being placed on the ground, is held in the
magician's hands. And, instead of having a trained dancer, one of the
spectators is asked to move his hand slowly up and down and from
right to left. The arrow stands in the basket and moves, following the
movements of the spectator's hand.
The basket should be small and round. It may be a bread basket
(they come in a variety of sizes) . The one I use measures 6 inches at the
top and 2V2 inches deep. This is an excellent size for the trick. For-
tunately, in the cheaper baskets, the weaving leaves many open spaces
and this will be helpful in performing the trick.
The arrow, which has to be made, should be not more than 12

inches and not less than 10 inches long. It should be about Vq inch
thick. Either a straight stick or a ^^-inch dowel stick can be used. The
point of the arrow must be slightly rounded. This rounding should be
done after the secret work is completed. What the audience knows
nothing about, and pays no attention to, is a tiny hole drilled from the
point and going up the shaft. Into this hole will go a needle. The needle
is a fine one, 1V4 inches long. A needle of the same size is used for
drilling the hole down into the stick. The hole should be 1 full inch
deep. In drilling, care must be taken to keep the hole straight in the
center of the stick.
Audiences are unaware of the needle. Neither do they know about

a stick % inch long and about the same size in diameter as the shaft of
the arrow. A hole has to be drilled into the end of this stick, as in the
tip of the arrow. This hole should be a little more than V4 inch deep.
Put a drop of glue into this hole and push the point of the needle in
as far as it will go. The glue should be allowed to dry for 24 hours to
be certain the needle is held firmly in the wood. Figure 1 shows how
this little piece of wood, with its embedded needle, appears when fin-
ished. Incidentally, in magic, such a piece of equipment, of which the

audience is never aware, is called a "gimmick." That word, from the
technical language of magic, has now become an integral part of the
English language. Most people who use the word do not realize they
are using a magician's term.
I ( "(»
needle
The needle of the gimmick is pushed from the outside of the

basket through one of the spaces left in the weaving. The space where
the needle goes must be near the bottom of the side wall. The part of
the needle inside the basket is pushed into the hole in the tip of the
arrow. When this has been done it will be easy, by moving the gimmick
outside the basket, to make the arrow rise or fall in the basket and to
I
magician s view
go from side to side. Figure 2 shows the basket and arrow with the
gimmick in place. The illustration also shows the feathered end of the
arrow. Attaching the feather to the arrow will be explained later.
For the magician to make the arrow dance, without the spectators
seeing how it is done, the basket has to be held in a certain way. Figure
3 shows the basket in the magician's hands as the spectators see it.
Figure 4 gives the magician's view. The latter illustration indicates
how the magician can control the action of the arrow by the movement
of one thumb. The magician moves this thumb to make the arrow fol-
low the directions of the spectator's hand.

In introducing the trick, the magician tells the spectator, who has
been selected as the one to wave his hand, exactly how he is to move.
He is told that every motion must be made slowly. This is done to make
it easier for the magician to follow the spectator's hand as he moves
the arrow and also because the trick is much more impressive when
done slowlv. If a spectator should decide to move quickly, the magi-
cian, at the first quick hand motion, takes his thumb off the gimmick,
which lets the arrow fall back on the basket. The magician tells the
spectator that he is sorry but, as he said, the arrow will follow only
slow movements. The spectator may then begin again.
When the magician decides that the arrow has done enough danc-
ing, he hands the arrow to one spectator and the basket to another. Of
course, he retains the gimmick. This is simple to do when the magician
holds the basket correctly. The magician shifts the basket from the posi-
tion in his hands when he made the arrow dance, until the basket rests
on one hand. Figure 5 shows that the basket rests on the fingers, and
gimmick
drops in hand
removing the arrow

the thumb tightly grips the top of the basket. The basket is tipped so
the front edge is raised. By taking hold of the shaft of the arrow and
pulling, the magician takes the arrow off the needle. Because of the
way the basket is held, the gimmick will fall away from the basket and
onto the magician's fingers. As soon as the arrow is free, the magician
hands it to a spectator. Then with the same hand he picks up the basket
and gives it to another spectator. The hand holding the gimmick is
closed, not tightly, but enough so that the gimmick does not fall on the
floor, and the hand is dropped to the side. As soon as he can, without
making the action suspicious, the magician drops the gimmick into his
jacket pocket, or behind something on his table.
Everyone accepts a stick with a feather at two sides of one end

as being an arrow. In this trick of the dancing arrow, feathers make
the stick look like an arrow and make the movement of the stick more
apparent and more dramatic. Two medium-sized feathers are required.
Small feathers from a chicken or duck are excellent. Each feather has
the quill cut in half. Follow Figures 6 and 6B for the steps of prepara-
ing the feathers to be attached to the stick. When the feathers are ready.
the stick, with its end protruding, should be put on a table and held in
place by a weight. If a vise is handy it should be used for holding the

stick. The entire end of the stick should be coated with glue. Then the
feathers should be put in position on the stick and held with one hand.
With the other hand wind a piece of fine strong string tightly around
the extending quills and the stick. See Figures 6C and 6D. Applv glue
also on the outside of the string after the winding has been completed.
\^Tien the glue has dried, the same job is done over the quills at the
other ends of the feathers.
Greater mvsterv may be added to the dancing arrow trick if it is
performed bv the light of a single candle. This serves to recreate the
atmosphere of the Indian ceremonial lodges where the feat had its
origin.
• 14-
Followers of Merlin
i here are many legends all around the world about magicians of the
past. Merlin was the legendary magician of Britain but historians never
have agreed whether he made the famed round table at King Arthur's
court by magic, as many accounts have it. As a matter of detail the his-
torians, at least some of them, doubt that Merlin had anything at all
to do with the making of that famed table. Because, in those times, the
majority of people believed that magicians really had superpowers, the
stories they passed on are apt to be untrue.

But we do have books, printed in English, by and about British
magicians recording four centuries of their magic. It is quite under-
standable, because of our common language, that American magicians
are more familiar with the historv' of British magic than they are with
the magic of any other land. For the same reason, American magicians
are more aware of the achievements of British performers than they
are of those of any other nationality.
England and Scotland have always had inventive magicians. To-

day, as in the past, Britain has magicians of charm, wit, ingenuity, and
great dexterity. A few years ago it occurred to me to combine two
137
British tricks, a very old trick and a modern one. No one knows who
invented the old trick. Reginald Scot, in his book published in 1584,
was the first to describe it. His title to the trick was "To transform anie
one small thing into anie other forme bv folding of paper."
This is what the audience sees. The magician shows his audience
three sheets of paper of different sizes and colors. Each sheet of paper
has marks showing that it has been folded but all are flat when first
shown to the audience. The three papers are held together when first
shown. The largest piece of paper is at the bottom and the smallest on
top.
Then the magician takes the papers one at a time and shows them
to the audience. Next he puts them together and lays them on the table.
At this point the magician borrows a dollar bill from someone in the
audience. He folds the money twice and places it on the center of the
smallest paper. He folds that paper around the bill along the creases
already in the paper. Then he folds the second paper around the bill
and the smallest paper. Finally he wraps them all in the largest sheet
of paper. At this point the audience has watched the magician wrap
a dollar bill in three separate pieces of paper. There is no question in
the mind of any spectator because everything the magician did was per-
formed very slowlv.

When the magician opens the papers he again acts deliberately.
When the smallest is unfolded the spectators are amazed to see that the
dollar bill is gone and in its place is a similarly folded piece of plain
unmarked white paper.

For this half of the trick the three papers used should be dif-
ferent colors; none should be white. The largest paper is 8 x 10 inches.
The second paper is 1 inch smaller each way, that is, 7 x 9 inches. The
Followers of Merlin • 139
smallest paper is again 1 inch smaller in width and length, and meas-
m-es 6x8 inches. The darkest-colored paper should be used for the
middle sheet, which measures 7x9 inches. The trick requires two
identical sheets of this color. The trick also requires a duplicate of
the smallest paper. All the papers should be of fairly heavy stock.
Each paper has to be folded very carefully and exactly. Figure

1 shows how, and where, each fold is made on the largest sheet. The
inner sheets are folded with the same kind of folds the outside one has
but each fold measures less because the papers are smaller.
1 2V2"-¥4~ 5" -4- 2i/2"-^
31/,"
sy,"
side toward magician

10"
The duplicate middle sheets must be folded exactly alike. To a
great extent the success of this trick depends upon these two papers
being, when folded, absolutely the same size. Those tvvo papers are
pasted together, in their folded state, and must appear to be only one
folded piece of paper. The long fold of each paper must point in the
opposite direction when the papers are pasted together.
Prior to the performance, the magician prepares the papers by
putting onto one of the tvvo smallest colored papers a piece of plain
white paper the size of a dollar bill. This white paper has been folded
twice so it is one-quarter of its length. The colored paper is folded
around the white paper. The folded colored paper is put into one side
of the second colored paper. This side is folded completely and placed,
face down, on the largest colored paper which has been opened out flat.
The middle paper, too, is opened out flat — that is, the upper duplicate
paper is unfolded. The smallest paper, opened and flat, is put on top
of the pile. It should be noted (as shown in Figure 1) that the long
fold of each paper is in the same direction and toward the magician.
In performance, the magician begins bv showing his three colored
papers. They are lying open in a pile on the table. It is easy to show
each paper separately, bv taking hold of the center of the edge of the
nearest of the smallest paper and raising it until the flat surface is
toward the audience. Everyone can see it to be merely a colored paper

with creases. At the same time the surface of the second can be seen.
Putting the smallest paper back on the second sheet, the two papers
are picked up together. With the other hand the largest sheet is picked
up and shown. Then all three sheets are replaced in a pile on the table.
See Figure 2.
Next the magician borrows a $1 bill. This he folds lengthwise
twice. The folded bill is put on the smallest paper and the sides of the
paper are folded toward the center. Then the short front fold (the one
toward the audience) is made. Finally, bv taking hold of the front of
this paper it is folded back onto the wide fold. The normal way would
^^^mmmssmmL
be to put the wide fold over the paper rather than putting the paper
over the wide fold. See Figures 3, 4A and 4B. While this is an unusual
way to fold the paper it does not seem to be unnatural and so will not
be noticed.
This paper folded around the dollar bill is then enclosed in the
second paper in exactly the same order and in the same way. But it will
be seen in turning the paper, in the last move, onto the wide fold, that
the duplicate second paper is brought face up.

Finally, the biggest paper is folded around the packet. The last
fold, however, is made in the normal wav bv bringing the wide fold
onto the packet. The papers are left on the table until the end of the
trick. At that time, after each paper has been unfolded, the piece of
paper will be found instead of the dollar bill. This ending is made par-
ticularly impressive if the magician takes the smallest colored paper,

as fold is being made slide paper to center
of bottom sheet
still folded, and steps nearer his audience before he unfolds the paper
and discloses the change of dollar bill to paper.
In the other half of this trick the magician causes a folded piece
of plain white paper to become transformed into a dollar bill in full
sight of the audience. This trick was the invention of Gus Fowler, a
most talented and inventive magician from Birmingham. England.
Mr. Fowler" s half of the trick depends upon ha\ing a second dol-
lar bill wrapped in white paper. The white paper, at the proper time,
is jerked off the bill inside the magicians coat bv means of a rubber
band. This mav sound as if it would be difficult to do but it is actuallv
quite easv with Mr. Fowler's method and a little practice.
The paper wrapping for the dollar bill actuallv is a white paper
envelope, V2 inch longer than the width of the bill. It is folded
around the bill so that the bill fits snuglv and vet will slide out easilv.
The overlap of the paper is pasted together. Next a piece of cardboard
is cut V2 inch wide and just long enough to fit in one end of the paper
envelope. The cardboard is held in the paper with paste. A hole is
punched through both paper and cardboard. After this has been done
the dollar bill is put into the envelope. The end of the bill should ex-
tend from the envelope Vs inch. If not that much of the bill sticks out a
httle of the end of the tube should be cut off. See Figure 5.
Through the hole in the cardboard, in the paper envelope, a
strong fine cord is tied. The cord should be about 12 inches long. At
the other end of the cord a loop is made. A rubber band is attached
to this loop. The rubber band should be medium heavv and the loop
should be 3 inches long. Thread the rubber band through a metal or

plastic ring such as was used to fasten the ribbon in the "Maza Cassa"
cardboard
folded bill in
paper envelope
t rubber
protruding edge of bill
trick. Finally, fasten the rubber band to another such ring. See Figure
5 for the completed equipment, which magicians call a "pull."
With two safety pins the pull is placed inside the magician's
jacket. One pin fastens the ring, through which the cord slides, to the
inside of the jacket, at the armpit just below the right sleeve. The magi-
cian then puts on the jacket. The second pin fastens the ring, to which
the rubber band is attached, to the back of the trousers at the waistband.
In performance, the magician's left hand goes inside the jacket
and takes hold of the paper wrapped around the dollar bill. The specta-
tors believe the magician has taken the paper from the pocket inside
.
his jacket. He pulls the paper out until it can be taken by the fingers
of his right hand. The fingers should be on the end of the paper and
over the cardboard strip. The cord is hidden by the magician's right
arm. The magician, with the fingers of his left hand, takes hold of the
edge of the dollar bill which sticks out of the paper tube. Since the
edge of the dollar bill is white, this edge will not have been noticed by
the audience. Holding the bill tightly with his left hand, the magician
releases the grip with his right. The rubber band will snap the white
envelope inside the jacket. As the paper goes into the jacket, its flight
is hidden by the magician's right arm. To give a complete illusion of

the paper changing to a dollar bill, the magician should bring his right
hand to his left the instant he lets go of the paper. The left hand is held
still as soon as it has hold of the bill. The paper is pulled off the bill
rather than the bill being taken out of the paper.
It is impossible to give exact measurements for the length of the

pull because each one is a different size. Private tests have to be made
to learn just how long it should be. It must be short enough so that the
rubber band will snap the paper out of sight inside the jacket. But it
should also permit the paper to be brought as far as possible outside

the jacket. In using the pull, the magician should turn his body slightly
toward the left in order to use his right arm as a shield to keep the
audience from seeing the action of the pull.
The patter stor\- I use with the trick begins only after the dollar
bill has been wrapped inside the papers. While the wrapping is being
done, I talk onlv about what I am doing. After the final fold has been
made on the third paper, I leave the paper package and step away from
the table before I begin my storv
"There was a man who was so afraid he would be robbed of his
money that he took great pains to guard it. He kept his money in a
locked drawer, in a locked safe, which was in a locked room. Now, of
course, I couldn't bring the safe here to show you so I am using these
papers to illustrate my story. You will remember that I wrapped the

money first in a sheet of yellow paper." (I mention each of the papers
by its color.) "That yellow paper represents the locked drawer inside
the safe. Then the vellow paper was wrapped in the blue paper which
serves as the safe. That was wrapped in the pink paper which acts as
the locked room. Everyone can see that the money with such triple
protection would be quite safe.
"Most people would not want to bother doing so much unlocking

every time they wanted money. But this man was a magician. He car-
ried pieces of blank white paper in his pocket. Paper like this. When-
ever he wanted money he used his magic and the paper became a dollar
bill. And by his magic he sent the paper back inside the safe to act as
a reminder that he had taken money out. I'll unlock the room, the safe,
and the drawer to show you what he did." As the final words are said
the magician unfolds the papers.
The triple papers can be used for many different tricks. A dollar
bill can be changed into four quarters. One playing card can be made
into another. A blank piece of paper will have writing appear on it.
These are but a few of the many tricks which can be done "by folding
of paper."
The pull can also be used to make all sorts of objects disappear.
By gluing a loop to the edge of a coin, the cord can be attached. See
Figure 6. Merely bv releasing the coin it will instantly disappear. To

make the disappearance of a coin, or whateyer small object is used,
particularly mysterious, the magician pretends he still has the coin in
his hands after it has been snapped inside the jacket. Before opening
his hands, to show that the coin has yanished, the magician extends his
arms so that his hands are well away from his body.
loop glued to coin

• 15 •
The Erring Eyes
Xvobert-Houdin, the great French magician, was a brilliant performer

and was at the height of his career just a little over a hundred years
ago. "Robert-Houdin" is a hv'phenated surname and in France is pro-
nounced "Roe-bear Oo-dan." The famous Frenchman never used his

given names, Jean Eugene, either as a stage performer or as a writer.
Magicians look upon Robert-Houdin as the father of modem
magic because of the many things he did to advance the position of
magic as one of the performing arts. Robert-Houdin sought to show
how a greater knowledge of the sciences and mechanics could be used
to improve the methods and equipment of magic. Through his studies,

he brought to the use of magic many of the inventions and discoveries
which had been newly made in various fields, such as precision

mechanics, electromagnetism, and optics.
Robert-Houdin demonstrated how well magicians could make use
of the knowledge and ideas of people in other fields. Another brilliant
Frenchman reversed the process by using, for other purposes, knowl-
edge held by magicians. This was done by Marshal Ferdinand Foch,
149
who became the supreme commander of the Allied armies in World

War I. Because he had considerable knowledge of the methods of magi-
cians, he conceived the idea of using optical trickery for military pur-
poses. It was the first time that the subject ever was studied as an
organized science. Of course, through the ages, various primitive peo-
ple, in time of battle, had covered themselves with leaves and otherwise
tried to fool the eyes of their enemies, but they had always worked on
a hit-or-miss basis. The word "camouflage" came into use to describe
this new science started in World War I.
The peculiar ways in which eyes can be misled are often amusing.
Eyes can so easily be mistaken when it comes to a matter of size.
Everyone realizes that objects seem to be smaller the further away

they are. From the top of a high hill an elephant at the foot may appear
to be smaller than a squirrel on a nearby tree limb. People learn to
realize that the animal at the bottom of the hill, which has the shape of
an elephant, though it seems to be only a few inches high, is really an
elephant. But unless the animal is standing alongside a man, an auto-
mobile, or something of a known size for comparison, it is impossible
to judge the size of the elephant. If it is standing alone in an open field,
no one from the top of the hill can know whether the elephant is a giant
or a midget.
It is fun to ask a person to place two quarters on a table just far
enough apart to slip a dime in between the two coins. He is not per-
mitted to look at a dime just before, or while, he places the quarters in
position. It is amazing to discover how far off a person will be about

the size of a dime. This experiment depends upon memory of size as
well as upon eyesight.

B
Look at the drawings of the two black-framed white squares in
Figure 1. Which square is larger, A or 5? It is not at all difficult to
see which is larger — or is it? In this test it would seem, as the white
squares are near together, that the eye could compare them and make
an instant decision.
Now, look at the picture of the milestone not far from Paris. A
flat stone is standing on a base. Is the base as long as the stone is high,
or longer, or shorter? It is not easy to judge quickly.
Finally, look at the two crazy arrows in Figure 2. Is the straight
line longer in the upper one, or in the lower one?

i52 • Magic of the World
In all three examples, the two
objects have the same measure-

ments. The white squares are iden-
tical in size. The base of the mile-

PARIS :
t3 km.
stone is just as wide as the stone is
high. The straight lines of the two

arrows are exactly the same length.
In each case the eve cannot judge,
< II
I ! < ! < 11 > II I H
1
, , ,
but for three different reasons. The ^

difference in size of the black
frames around the white squares confuses the eyes and keeps them
from comparing the white squares. The stone seems taller than the base
is wide because the eyes lengthen what goes up and down and shorten
what goes sideways. Finally, because of the difference in the ways the
arrowheads are made, the upper arrow seems shorter than the lower.
The lines going back over the arrow make it appear shorter. The lines
extending from the arrow make it
seem longer.
Curves, angles, and differences
in color can also make difficulties
when the mind tries to judge on the

basis of what the eyes report. It is
really not the fault of the mind at all
but merelv that the eves become so

confused they send an outright fib to
the brain.
The Erring Eyes • 153
There is a wonderful example of sight mixup which magicians

call the "Boomerang Trick." In this trick the magician shows two
curved flat boards which he calls, and which are similar in appearance
to, two boomerangs. He holds one above the other to show how much
longer one is than the other. Putting the longer one under one arm, the
magician stretches the other boomerang. He takes the one boomerang
from under his arm and places it on the one he has just stretched. They
are now identical in size. He then can stretch one boomerang, or
squeeze it together, and when he shows them, one over another as he
showed them at the beginning, they again are different sizes.
Looking at Figure 3 you can see how effective this optical trick
is. The t\vo gray boomerangs (marked A and B) are absolutely the same
size. But because of the shape of the boomerangs, and the way they are
shown, boomerang A appears to be considerably smaller than boom-
erang B. Notice in the drawing that the hnes of the left ends of the
boomerangs are almost in a straight line. When the boomerangs are
shown in this way the eyes are thrown off completely in attempting to
gauge size.
When one boomerang is placed on top of another they will seem
to be, as they actually are, exactly the same size. The pretense of pull-
ing, or squeezing, a boomerang in order to change its size is merely
acting. It helps to confuse the mind but naturally has no effect on the
sight. The acting does make the trick much more effective and should
be studied so as to make it seem that the stretching, or squeezing, is
done in fact. The slower the acting the more real it will appear. A
couple of quick jerks will not make the audience accept the pretense.
The shape of each boomerang is very important. In Figure 4 an

outline of a boomerang is drawn over squares. The drawing is one-
quarter the size of a boomerang used in performance. On a piece of
paper, squares 1 inch in size should be drawn. It is easy to draw in each
large square what is found in the matching small square in the illustra-
tion. The way to draw the squares accurately is to draw the proper
number of vertical lines, each 1 inch apart. Then draw, 1 inch apart,
the needed number of horizontal lines.

The best-looking boomerangs are made of wood which should be

no more than V4 inch thick. The boomerang will be 10 inches long and
2V2 inches wide if the enlarging method described is followed. The
two boomerangs have to be identical to make the trick effective. After
the wood is cut it should be sanded and painted. Because of the curves
the wood has to be cut with a jigsaw or coping saw.
Instead of wood, the boomerangs can be made of cardboard. In
order to make the boomerangs stiff enough for the trick, it will be nec-
essary to paste several pieces of cardboard together. When the card-
board boomerangs are completed they can be reinforced by covering

them with adhesive-backed paper.
One of the most interesting of all optical tricks had no connec-
tion at all with magicians but it is quite magical and has a mysterious
history. Contrary to most tricks which are performed publiclv and the
equipment kept secret, this trick was secretly shown and the equip-
ment carried about openly. The trick was performed originally in
France in 1792. It was designed by a royalist follower of King Louis

XVI. After the King was guillotined, the aristocracy could own no like-
ness of the King, by order of the revolutionists. Many noblemen were

delighted to be able to purchase the trick — a cane with a fancy knob.
The cane could be carried anywhere, for it was exactly what it ap-
peared to be. But the knob, which did not come apart or have any
secret compartment, was the equipment needed for the trick. Actually,
another object also was needed to show the trick, but it could be found
in any home. The second item was a candle. After the candle was
lighted and the room darkened, the knob of the cane was held between
the flame of the candle and a white wall. Because of the light and the
A paperweight turned by the author and designed
to cast the shadow of his profile.
irregular ridges in the knob of the cane, a silhouette of the King was
thrown on the wall.
Robert-Houdin made use of an optical oddity to great advantage
in advertising his performances. It was a printed design made of criss-
crossed lines which, when looked at, as one would read a book, had no
meaning at all. However, when the design was held in such a way that
the eyes look along the page, and not at it, letters were seen and words
could be read. In a wav, it is the reverse of what artists do when, by
drawing in perspective, they make a picture. For instance, an artist
would not make a picture of a book lying on a table the same size as
he would of a book standing upright on the table. He would draw his

books different] V in order to satisfy the eyes of those viewing the

picture.
As an example of what is done in drawing in perspective, look at
the picture of the matchbox and the two matches (Figure 5). The
match placed flat on the box has its head toward the viewer and the
end of the match pointing directly away. The second match is shown
standing upright and leaning against the matchbox. In order to make
the matches look identical, the artist, because of the positions of the
matches, drew them of different lengths. What the artist did was what
the eyes do normally. This is called "foreshortening" and is done be-
cause things seem to get smaller the further away they are. An excellent
example of this can be shown with this book. Hold it upright, look at
this page and note how high it is. Then slowly lower the top edge of the
book until the eyes look along the surface of the paper. As the top edge
of the book is lowered, the page seems to get shorter and shorter until
finally the book seems to be much wider than it is high.
The portrait on page 148 shows Robert-Houdin holding his own

calligraph or design. By turning the design six different ways one
can read his name and in French, that he was a prestidigitator, a

physicist and an engineer, and that he lived at St. Gervais, near Blois.
In Figure 6 I have copied Robert-Houdin's design but have
changed the letters. If you look directly at my design, it has no mean-
ing whatsoever. But tilt the book so as to look along the surface of and
up the page and if the book is held correctly, it is easy to read my name.
Now, to the right as the hands of a clock go, turn the book and the
name of this book can be read. Keep on turning and, first, the name of
the publisher will be seen, and then the name of the city where the
book was written and published.
So that YOU can make up such a design with your own name and
address, two exact-size alphabets of these tricky letters are given.
For the vertical and horizontal letters of your design, trace the large
letters in Figure 7. For the crossing letters, use the smaller alphabet
in Figure 8. For the best appearance, the total number of letters of
the words should be about the same in each line. The letters must
M
fl!
i ) K
8
have the extra-thick horizontal lines to have these lines show when
the letters are read. Notice that as the vertical lines become shorter,
when sighting along them, the horizontal lines become thinner.
Because the letters must be drawn while looking directly at the
page, the task becomes somewhat confusing when drawing the crossing
letters. This can be made much easier by drawing the letters of each
direction on thin sheets of transparent plastic. When all the lettering is
finished, the plastic sheets are put, one on top of another, made straight
and even, and stuck together at the edges with plastic tape. Very satis-
factory photographic or photostatic copies can be made to the size
vou wish from the plastic original.
No one ever need worry whether an optical trick will succeed,

for the erring eyes can always be trusted to make the same mistakes.
• 16-
Champion Bombyx Mori
Americans are a wonderful mixture of peoples who came themselves

or whose ancestors came from eveiA' corner of the world. Some of these
people were magicians and brought their magic with them. The first
magicians from abroad arrived in America in the early days of the
colonies.
Over the vears American magic became a compound of tricks
from ever\~w here. Because of this great mixture of mysteries, American

magicians' shows were very varied. But when American magicians be-
gan to invent their own mcigic, many of them kept to feats which had
unitv. All T. Nelson Downs's magic was done with coins. At the begin-
ning of their careers both Howard Thurston and Nate Leipzig did
tricks only with cards. All Ade Duval's mysteries were performed with
silk — small silk handkerchiefs, pieces of silk many yards long, and
huge squares of silk. Cantu was the first to do an entire show with
pigeons.
From the verv earliest times magicians and their audiences have
liked feats in which large quantities of objects were produced from thin
161
air. Such feats are called "productions." Some production tricks are
very difficult to do. Many of the easy ones are not very good, as the
spectators are apt to think thev know where the objects have been
hidden. Even when their ideas about how a trick works are wrong,
spectators most enjoy magic that is so baffling they can't even guess
how it is done.
Production tricks have always interested me and I have had to
invent several new methods in order to do special shows. I have been

asked to "produce" a great manv different objects. A few examples
will show the type of requests which come to a professional magician.
For a convention of refrigerator manufacturers I mysteriously pro-
duced two thousand ice cubes. At an annual meeting of doctors I dis-
covered enough surgical instruments to stock a hospital — and at a spot
where none had been an instant before. For a food concern I found a
hundred apple pies in a box which had been shown to be empty. And
for a group of diamond importers I brought $2,500,000 worth of
jewelrv out of the air. Some of these tricks were so hard to do, weeks
of practice were needed before they could be shown publicly. But one
of my production tricks is easy to learn and to do. It is a good trick
because the spectators never believe their eyes can have been working
properly. The trick is done with a little fourfold screen which is only
10 inches high. When I do the trick this is what the audience sees and
hears.
"Everyone has seen this small screen standing on the table." See
Figure 1. "Screens have many uses, but this screen has a very special
use. The panels of this screen fold either forward or backward. As you
see, the screen will fold this way to make a tiny room, or a room can
^
be made by folding the screen this way. The purpose of this screen is
to make a very small room. I'll put this clip on the screen to keep the
little room closed."

As this talk is given the screen is picked up by the tops of the two
end panels. First the screen is straightened out and then one panel
after another is bent fon\ard and backward. Next the panels are bent
forward and around so as to make a square of panels. Then, after open-
ing the screen, the panels are bent backward to form a square. Finally,
before replacing the screen on the table, a clip is used to fasten to-
gether the open comers. See Figure 2.
Then the talk is continued. "This screen has been made into a
workroom which does not allow anyone on the outside to watch the
worker on the inside when he does his work. My worker is the world's
Champion Bombyx Mori • 165
champion Bombyx Mori and I have brought him with me in this little
box. I'll open the box and let him out inside his workroom. You see
he never likes anyone to look at him even when he is working."
While this is said a very small and attractive box is taken from a
pocket and shown. The cover is removed from the box and the box is
lowered into the inside of the square of panels. After waiting a moment,
the box is taken out of the screen and together with the cover, put back
into the pocket.
In quite a loud voice, and looking toward the screen as if the
words were directed toward whatever is inside, the patter continues.
"Remember, I told you that inside his special workroom is the
champion Bombyx Mori of the world." Then, stepping toward the

audience, the patter is whispered, "A Bombyx Mori is the moth which
comes from a silkworm, you know. But he will not work unless called
by that name. He just hates being a worm."

Then stepping back, and again looking inside the screen, the final
remark is made. "I've never known Bombyx Mori to work so fast. Just
look at what he has done!"

As I do the trick, I reach inside the screen and pull out a silk
handkerchief. To that handkerchief is tied another and to it still an-
other. Handkerchief after handkerchief come out of the screen until I
have pulled out a string 60 feet long made up of thirty handkerchiefs.

\^Tien the silks are all out they make such a big bundle that it seems
impossible that they all could have come from the screen.
After all the handkerchiefs have been pulled out of the screen,
the huge bundle of silk is set aside. Then the clip is taken off the
screen and the screen is opened and raised from the table. Standing on
the table is a sign 8 inches high and 14V2 inches long. On the screen
is a picture of a rabbit sticking his head out of a hat and the words
"The End." See Figure 3.
Besides the silk which is produced, almost all that is needed to
do the trick is the fourfold screen and its clip, the sign, and the tiny
fancy box for the Bombyx Mori. And all of these things the audience,
at one time or another during the performance, knows about and sees.
The things the audience does not know about are 10 inches of strong
cord, two short needles with big eyes, 1 yard of heavy thread, two
pieces of soft white cloth, and two small metal hooks.
The screen is made of cardboard. All the panels are the same
size, 10 inches high and 5 inches wide. Each panel is made of two
pieces of cardboard which have been glued together. The hinges are
made of cloth tape glued between the pieces of cardboard. The only
Champion Bombyx Mori • 167
trickv thing about tlie screen is that 1 inch from the top of one of the
middle panels are two loops of cord. The black lines on the screen are
partly for decoration but mostly to hide the cord.
The clip is a thin piece of metal which is bent in such a wav that
it will fit over the tops of two panels. The clip is exactly what it seems
to be and is used only to keep the screen from opening when it is made
into a square room.
The sign also is made of cardboard and has cloth tape hinges so it
can fold. The sign has but three panels which, unlike tlie screen, will
fold only in one direction. Each panel is made of a single thickness of
cardboard. The panels of the sign are smaller than those of the screen.
Two metal hooks are glued to the top of the center panel of the sign.
\^Tien the hooks on the sign are put into the cord loops on the screen
the sign will hang on the screen. At this point it has been made into a
triangle which is firmly held together but which can be opened in-
stantly. Along the outer vertical edges of the two side panels of the sign
the pieces of white cloth are glued. When the sign is folded into a
tiiangle these strips overlap. The needles, like pins, are used to fasten
tlie two pieces of cloth together. One needle is pushed through the ma-
terial near the top of the panels. The other needle is stuck through the
cloths near the bottom of the panels. The reason for using short needles
is that less pull is required to release them from the cloth. Through the
large eye in each needle is pushed a length of the heavy thread. Each
thread is doubled back from the needle and tied to tlie same large bead.
Instead of a bead one of the tinv rings, mentioned in the "Maza Cassa"
trick, can be used. The thread from the upper needle is short, so the
bead or ring is near the top of the panel. The thread from the lower
needle is just long enough to reach the bead. Taking hold of the bead
will, with a very short pull, take the needles out of the cloth. The sign
will open the instant the needles are withdrawn. See Figure 4.
In magic whatever is to be produced mysteriously is called the
"load." Whatever holds the load while it is hidden, magicians call the
"load container." In this production trick the sign, when it is made

into the form of a triangle, is the load container and the silk is the load.
The triangle seems so small that it is hard to believe that into such a
limited space thirty sheer silk handkerchiefs, each 17 inches square,
can be pushed without difficulty. Due to the triangle having no bottom,

the silks have to be packed inside in a special way which will be ex-
plained later.
After the silk has been pulled out of the container, the magician
has to do four things in order to produce the sign. The first two are
Champion Bomhyx Mori • 169
done together. One hand goes into the top of the screen and takes hold
of one of the panels of the sign. The other hand also reaches inside the
top of the screen to grasp the bead. The bead is pulled so as to draw
the needles from the cloth. When the needles are free, the bead, with
its attached needles and thread, drops on the table. At the same time
the sign is raised enough to take the metal hooks out of the loops of
thread. The sign then is set back upon the table. The magician can
forget the sign, for it will open by itself as soon as the screen is re-
moved. When it is open the sign will hide the bead, needles, and
thread.
To take the screen away from the sign the clip is first removed.
Then the two end panels are grasped, one in each hand, and the screen
is pulled out straight and lifted from the table. After the screen has
been raised above the sign, the screen is folded completely and placed
flat upon the table.
That is the general idea of the way the production is made and the
performance really is very easy to do. There is nothing difficult to make

for this trick but each part has to be made vers' carefully in order for
the trick to work properly and easily.
Each panel of the screen, as has been noted, is made of two pieces
of cardboard glued together. The best cardboard to use is called
"mounting board." This can be found in any store selling art supplies
and in many stationery stores. Such board is usually gray on one side
and white on the other and sold in sheets 20 X 30 inches in size. One
sheet will be enough to make both the screen and the sign. Mounting
board Vie inch thick is just right for the screen and the sign.
The cloth tape is the tightly woven kind used in making clothes.
It can be found at notions counters and usually is called "dress tape."

1 70 ' Magic of the World
It comes in various widths and thicknesses, but the tape to buy should
be VA inches wide and just thick enough to be fairly stiff. Black is a
good color and 2 yards of cloth tape is enough.

For the screen to work properly all eight pieces of the mounting
board have to be exactlv the same size. The easiest wav to do this is to
cut one piece exactly 10 inches high and 5 inches wide and to use
that piece as a model in cutting all the others. Hold the model piece
firmlv on the mounting board and cut along the edges with the point of
a sharp knife. The cutting should be done, of course, on top of a piece
of wood-cutting board. To make the best cut press the knife fairly
Ughtly and run over and over the board until it is cut through.
Four pieces, each IOV2 inches long, are cut from the cloth tape.
Besides those four pieces of tape, and the eight pieces of mounting
board all exactlv the same size, only glue is needed to make the screen.
The gray side of the cardboard, for the sake of appearance, should be
the side to show. In other words, glue together the white sides of the
board.
In order for the screen to fold there has to be a space between

panels. The space allows the tape to bend and is Vs inch wide. The best
and easiest way to make this space is to measure the amount of tape
which has to be glued between the two thicknesses of mounting board.
This is done by drawing lines on the white sides of four pieces of the
board. The lines should run ^le inch from the long sides of the
boards. After each line is drawn the space should be measured again
for the spacing is most important. Next spread glue evenly in the space
between the line and the edge of one board. Repeat this in the same
way on a second board. One piece of the cloth tape is then pressed
onto the glue on the two boards. The tape has been cut longer than the
Champion Bombyx Mori • 1 71
boards so it may be held by the ends to keep the fingers out of the glue.
The edges of the tape should go along the pencil lines on the boards.
The pencil lines should just show when the tape is in place. If this has
been done properly there will be a Vfe-inch space between the edges of
the two boards. To press it firmly to the board, place a weight on the
tape. The weight remains there for several hours to allow the glue to
dry. This takes time but is easy to do. It is almost impossible to glue
more than one hinge at a time in place without having one tape slide
out of position. See Figures 5A and 5B.
After all three hinges have been glued in place, and the glue
dries completely, the extending ends of the tapes are cut off, even with
the edges of the boards.
Finally, glue is spread over the entire white surface of the other
four pieces of mounting board. Those boards are placed on top of the
boards to which the tapes have been glued. Glue one board at a time
so the glue does not have a chance to dry before the board is in place.
Each board is weighted as soon as it is in position and before glue is
put on the next board. When all the four boards are in position, and
weighted, the glue is allowed to dry. Be careful no glue touches that

part of the tape which acts as the hinge. Glue would make the tape stiff
and keep it from bending.

Two more things have to be done to finish the screen: the cord
loops have to be made and the black lines have to be put on. With a
heavy needle, four holes are made through the double boards 1 inch
from the top of one of the center panels. One hole is made % inch from
the edge of the panel on one side. The second hole is made the same
distance from the edge of the opposite side. The other two holes are
IV4 inches from their respective sides. The cord (fine fishline is excel-
lent) is threaded through the holes as is shown in Figure 6. Put the
top of tape on reverse side covering cord

6
top of one of center panels of screen
\
feed cord through these holes . . .
/
and these holes
t
tape
and tie on other side
Champion Bom byX Mori • 173
cord through the panel so that the loops are at the top of the left center
panel of the fullv opened screen. Leave enough slack in the loops to
allow for the hooks of the load container.
The best-looking black lines, and the easiest to put in place, are
made with black tape % inch wide. Such tape is manufactured for
decorative and other purposes, and has an adhesive back. It can be
found in art shops as well as in manv stationen" and hardware stores.
The tape is stuck on the panels to make one line 1 inch from the top of
each panel and a second line 1 inch from the bottoms of the panels.
The lines are put on both sides of each panel. In the front the tape wiU
hide the cord. In the back, the loops of cord are left sticking out to the
top of the tape.
The metal clip is made from a thin piece of tin. copper, brass, or
anv other metal which is handv and can be bent easilv. A piece of
metal 2V^ inches long and 2 inches wide is needed. The series of steps
to be followed in making the clip are shown in Figure 7. The hook is
cut here
fold cut bend

over
^ down
. J
A„J,t^,MJJIJlUJ,U„MUJJ,lllWIWJWWf.
i h
^
J B D y
metal Ys" thick tilt these edges
up with pliers
the clip should be Vs inch from the back of the clip as that is the thick-
ness of the panel. A Vs-inch-thick piece of metal is used to bend the tin
around when making the hook.

Because each panel of the sign is only a single thickness of the
mounting board, and has to fold only in one direction, the sign can be
made more quickly than the screen. In making the sign, no space at all
is left between the panels. Each of the panels of the sign is 8 inches
high and 4^2 inches wide. In gluing the hinges on the panels the job
is done in the same way as with the screen by marking off the space for
the glue. For the screen the lines are drawn % inch from the side of the
panel. And the hinges are put on the gray side of the cardboard. When
the hinges are in place, the glue is allowed to dry under a weight. Be-
cause no space is left between panels both hinges can be put on at the
same time.
The white cloth has to be a soft material which needles will go into
easily. The cloth is folded so as to give more than one thickness of
material for the needles and also to hide the edges, which would fray
if left exposed. Figure 8 shows the way the cloth is folded and how it
is glued. On one side of the sign the edge of the cloth is even with the
edge of the board. The other piece of cloth is glued so that it extends
V4 inch over the edge of the board.

The hooks are made of the same kind of metal as is used for the
clip. Two pieces of metal are needed, each V2 inch wide and 1% inches
long. To form the hooks bend the metal over the same piece of metal
used in bending the clip. Glue the hooks on the sign V2 inch from the
sides of the center panel. Put the glue on the long arm of the hook and
press it in place on the gray side of the board with the hook coming
cloth is folded as shown at left and glued to load container as shown at right
r
IVi" wide approximately %" overhang cloth flush
over the top of the board to the white side. See Figure 9A. The hooks
go into the loops on the screen. When fastened into a triangle and
hooked to the screen, the sign makes a perfect load container. See
Figure 9B.
hooks over
loops of cord
m hooks
glued
on this
side
hooking
over
the top
*— tape -*
hinges
empty load container

in place
9A 9B
1 76 ' Magic of the World
Silk makes the most impressive production, as so much will go

into a small space when packed. Silk also is the easiest material to han-
dle, since other materials do not compress as well and wrinkle more.
Of course, the sheerer the material the greater the amount which can
be put into the container. Sheer silk handkerchiefs may be bought in
many colors. Girls use them for neck scarves. Such scarves vary in
price but plain colored ones are not expensive. Thirty handkerchiefs
each 17 inches square will go into the load container easily. If the
proper handkerchiefs cannot be found, an impressive production can

be made by using one long strip of silk. The container will hold a
piece of sheer silk 18 inches wide and 10 yards long.
Because the container has no bottom, the silk handkerchiefs or
the strip of silk have to be packed in the container in a special way.

The container, of course, is packed before it is hooked onto the screen.
First, place the open bottom of the container on a table. Then open the
handkerchief at one end of the tied-together string, or one end of the
strip of cloth, and place it on top of the container. Then push the center
of this part into the container so as to form a sort of bag. The silk is
pushed only about halfway down so the edges will hang over the top
of the container. Hold these edges by one hand on the outside of the
container. With the other hand take the handkerchief tied to the one
forming the bag, or about 12 inches of the strip, and push it into the
container. The silk is not pushed way down but merely far enough so
it is completely inside the container. By taking a small amount at a
time push the rest of the silk into the container. When pressure is nec-
essary to pack any more silk the bottom of the bag has been reached.
The hand which has been holding the edges of the silk forming the bag
is taken away. Because silk is so springy, the material already inside

10
1 78 • Magic of the World
the container will press against the sides of the triangle and keep the
silk from falling out of the bottom. Then, little by little, the rest of the
silk is pushed into the container. The bottom of the bag will be pushed
down to the tabletop.
So that the spectators believe that thev have seen both sides of an
innocent four-panel screen at the beginning of the trick, there is a series
of nine steps to follow in handling the screen with its load. The magi-
cian picks up the screen by taking hold of the tops of the end panels,
one in each hand. All the moves are made without changing the grip
of either hand until the last move of putting the clip in place. Figure
10 shows the order of these moves.

This production can be performed onlv when all the spectators are
in front of the magician. And, of course, the magician has to take great
care never to turn the screen so that the spectators get a chance to see
the load container.
Producing the sign at the end of the trick is done for three rea-
sons. The first reason is that the magician can fold the screen flat at the
end because the load container has been removed. This is a convincing
way of proving that the screen is, and always has been, quite unpre-
pared, and adds to the mystery of the trick. The second reason is that
the production of the sign creates a surprise ending. The third reason
is that the sign can be made to fit a special show. For example, for a
performance at a club the sign can have the club name or emblem. For
a charity show the sign can be made to help the cause. For other shows,
before special groups, the sign can be made to have special interest
for the audience. Figure 11 shows several suggested designs.
One last note. The box for the imaginary Bombyx Mori should
be very small and rather fancy. I made a cardboard box and covered it
Champion Bomhyx Mori • 1 79
with gift wrapping paper but any attractive tiny box can be used.
"Bom" is pronounced exactly like "bomb" in English; "b)''x" rhymes
with "six." "Mor" is pronounced like "more" in English; the "i" end-
ing is "ee" in English.
1
p
T
A ^
BOY
(^
s COUT S
11
.
• 17 •
The Magic Show
in several Avavs a magic show is like an automobile. The engine, the

wheels, and the various other parts have to be put together correctly
before there can be an automobile. In the same wav that sections of a
car when taken apart are not an automobile, separate tricks are not a
magic show. And as there are automobiles designed to do different jobs,
magic shows have to be designed to fit the conditions where the show^
is to be given. How well an automobile works depends upon the opera-
tor. Like an automobile driver, a magician has to know what he is do-
ing, he has to follow the rules, he becomes better with practice, and
he should be courteous to evenone. And do not forget that the
smoother the ride, or the show, the more people will enjov it.
\^ bile all of the tricks in this book can be sho^\Ti to small groups,
a number of the tricks can be shown to large audiences, and several

can be sho%\"n to one person. \^ bile manv of the tricks require prepara-
tion before performance, several of the tricks can be shown anv time
and \\ ithout notice. Bv selecting the right combinations of the tricks in
181
this book, interesting magic shows can be given for audiences of one
or several hundred.
Usuallv it is a good idea to show onlv a single trick to one person,
or even to three or four. It is difficult to do an actual show for so few.

On the other hand, performing onlv one trick can be verv^ entertaining
to a small number of persons. The paddle tricks for example are excel-
lent to show as a single trick. It is wise for a person beginning as a
magician to limit each of his shows to three tricks. \îth a show made
up of three good tricks a magician can have varietv, mysterv', and enter-
tainment. By limiting himself to three tricks for a show, a magician
will have fewer details to remember and so can give a smoother per-
formance.
Tricks have alwavs been named so that the title of the trick will
give the spectators absolutely no idea what the magician will do in his
performance. Very elaborate names were given in the past to different
tricks: "Paliengensis," "Pixidees Literarium," and "Operation of

Capromancie "
all appeared on one printed program. Many of the chap-
ters in this book have been given names which tell the audience abso-
lutelv nothing about the trick to be performed. For instance, the pro-
duction trick in the preceding chapter was called "Champion Bombyx
Mori." Viere the title to appear on a printed program it would tell the
audience nothing about what will happen. It is a rule in magic that a
magician never tells an audience what he intends to do. While it is an
excellent idea always to name a trick in a wav which has no meaning to
the spectators, the magician, to himself, may have an entirely different
name for the trick. For instance, "Der Rote Geist'" is a fine audience
name for the trick but. to mvself. I ahvavs think of the trick as "The
Jumping Red Block.""
The Magic Show • 183
To return to the comparison of the automobile driver and the
magician. Before a person gets in a car he should be certain he has his
kevs and that there is sufficient gasoline in the tank. Before a magician
begins his show he should know that he has ever\thing he needs, that
each object is where it should be and is readv to use. Professional
magicians make up lists of what is needed for each trick and check
those lists just before a show. These lists, called "prop lists," are to a
magician what a road map is to a driver. "Prop" is short for "proper-
ties," which in the theater is the term for every object used in a show.
Getting ready to give a show is an exciting time for a performer. Any

person, when excited, is very likely to forget some little thing. And the
"little thing" which is forgotten may be what is needed to make the
trick work. Prop lists help avoid failures in performance. A vise magi-
cian, particularly when he is preparing a show for a large group, will
check his prop list just before the performance.
Here is an excellent combination of tricks to make a show suitable

for fifty to a hundred people. Each trick is quite unlike the others, as
it should be to make a good program. And each trick is a little stronger
in effect than the one before. A show should build and get stronger as
it goes along.
"Boomerangs" (p. 153)

"String off Stick" ("Jadoo" — p. 83)
"Jumping Red Block" ("Der Rote Geist" — p. 95)
This is the wav the prop list would be made out:
1. "Boomerangs": Place two boomerangs separatelv on the table.
Have boomerangs face the same way.

2. "String off Stick": Make certain pin is in place in stick. Stick and
string and rattledrum on table. Make certain string is separate from
stick.
3. "Jumping Red Block": Tube, containing four blocks, on top of a
wood square and covered with other wood square, on table. Make
certain blocks are in proper order in tube — red blocks top and bot-
tom and natural wood blocks in between.
Such a list can be read and the points checked in a minute. After
checking, the magician will know that everything is ready to work
properly.
In this prop list the various articles were listed as being "on the
table." The table is what is called the "prop table." That is where all
the things used in the show are placed until they are needed during
the performance. In most shows a second table is very useful for the
actual performance of the trick. This will keep that trick apart from
the props of other tricks and avoid confusion. A card table or one of
similar size is fine to use as the prop table. A small stand, not too low,
is a good table to use for performing the trick.
In Chapters 2 and 15 there are a number of tricks and stunts

which will amuse one person, or even several people: for example,
showing that a person is unable to know where a sound comes from

when his eyes are closed or showing that a person does not know the
size of a dime.
The two card tricks of "The King's Power" in Chapter 3, can be
shown with anyone's pack of cards and can be readied for performance
in front of an audience.
Magic is wonderful entertainment for parties at home. Here are

five different programs for home shows.
1. "Paddle with Inkspot" (p. 65)

"Traveling Cash" ("She-fa Cash"— p. 41)
"Coins off String" ("She-fa Cash"— p. 50)
2. "Card Trick with Aces" ("The King's Power" — p. 23)

"Card Trick with Fifteen Cards" ("The King's Power"
p. 29)
3. "Boomerangs" (p. 153)

"Dancing Arrow" (p. 126)
"String off Stick" (p. 83)
4. "Peg Pencil" (p. 72)

"Rattle Boxes" ("Maza Cassa" — p. 115)
"Changing Dollar and Paper" (p. 138)
5. "Pennies to Dimes Paddle" (p. 71)

"Tagina Metal" (p. 105)
"Cut String" ("Urbut" — p. 33)
Another excellent show for a larger group would contain these

tricks:
"Traveling Cash" (p. 41)

"Color-changing Balloon" (p. 75)
"Silk Production" ("Champion Bombyx Mori" — p. 161)
One other item should be noted on the prop list but this cannot
be done until after the trick has been practiced privately and performed
publicly. A magician should know how long each trick takes in per-
formance. This time should be set down on the prop list. \^Tien a magi-
cian makes up a program of the tricks he plans to do in a show he will
know, by referring to the prop list, exactly how long his show will take.
Sometimes the length of the show makes no difference. But when a
magician is appearing with several other performers, the length of his

part of the show can be verv important.
Of course the programs which have been suggested are not the
only combinations possible with the magic described in this book. After
having had the experience of giving successful shows, a magician does
not have to limit himself to showing only three tricks in one program.
The magic in this book is not difficuU to do but each trick has
to be done a number of times before it is shown to an audience. And

the magician should not only do the trick over and over again in private
but he should talk as he performs. The trick should be practiced be-
cause the magician should know what he has to do so well that he does
not have to think about his actions. What the magician savs in his patter
often has very little to do with his actions and so it, too, has to be prac-
ticed. The more certain a magician is about what he does and savs the
greater the pleasure the audience will get from the show. And the more
the spectators enjoy the magic the more fun it is to be a magician.
Spectators who like a performance of magic also like the magi-
cian. WTien a magician has performed a feat of magic which seems
impossible he must be verv careful not to act as if he is pleased with
himself instead of being happy because the audience likes the magic.
If, during a show, a magician is always on his best behavior, he can be
certain the spectators will like him as well as his magic.
Magicians, with their entertaining mvsteries, can be seen every-
where in the world. While all countries could not be represented in
one volume, magic from all over the world — the Far East, the Near
East, Europe, and America — has been described in these pages. You
have the secrets of many amazing feats. Now, after you have had a
chance to practice each trick, you will be able to take an audience
around the world with magic.
1^-.^^'
Inde:
American Indian magic, 126-12'i cup tricks, 105-114

American magic, 161
ancient magic, 9 Dancing Arrow tricks, 127-129. 129-135
arrow tricks. 127-135 DowTis, T. Nelson, 161
Austrian magic, 95 drum of Siva, 83, 90-93

Duval, Ade, 161
balloon trick. 75-81

I Bomb)-x Mori. 161-179 Egs-ptian magic, 33
books on magic, 10-11
Boomerang Trick, 153-155 Foch, Marshall Ferdinand. 149
box tricks, 115-125 "folding of paper," 138
British magic, 137-138 foreshortening. 157
Fowler, Gus, 143
calligraph of Robert-Houdin, 148. 157 French magic, 149
calligraph of this book. 157-158
camouflage, 149-150
German magic, 57-58
cane tricks, 155-156
gimmick, 130
Cantu, 161
Gypsy magic, 23
cards printed, 14—15
card tricks, 23-32. 57-61
Indian magic, 83
Champion Bombv-x Mori, 161-179
Italian magic. 115
changes in magic, 11
Chinese magic, 41^2
Choose a Color, 75-81 Jadoo. 83-93
coin tricks, 17-19. 41-55. 57-63. 115-125. Japanese magic. 105
146-147. 150
cord tricks, 33^40. 83-93 King's Power tricks, 23-29, 29-32
189
190 ' Index
Leipzig. Nate, 161 programs, magic, 181-187

letter tricks, 19, 156-160 prop lists, 183-186
prop table, 184
Magic Inkspots, 66-71 pull, 144
Magic Money, 41-55
magic shows, 181-187 Red Ghost. The. 95-104
Maza Cassa, 115-125 Robert-Houdin, 149
mental magic, 57-63 rope tricks, 33^40, 83-93
mindreading tricks. 57-63 Rote Geist, Der, 95-104
misdirection. 19-20
She-fa Cash tricks. 41-50, 50-55
names of tricks, 182 silhouette, magic, 155-156
sound, direction of, 20-21
optical tricks. 149-160 Spanish magic, 75
string tricks. 33-40. 83-93
paddle tricks, 65-71
paper money tricks, 18. 57-63. 13' -147 Tagina Metal, 105-114
paper tricks, 137-147 thought transference tricks, 57-63
patter, 24 Thurston, Howard. 161
Peg Pencil, 71-73 Triple Papers tricks, 137-143, 143-146,
perspective tricks, 156-160 146-147
pocket-aprons, 12 tube tricks, 95-104
"presto," 125
production tricks, 161-179 Urbut, 33^10
I
About the Author
John Mulholland began practicing magic
as a hobby at the age of five and entered
the field professionally while he was still in
school. In early life he supplemented his

income from magic by teaching and by
editing. He is the author of numerous
books on magic and wrote the articles on
the subject for Comptons and The World
Book Encyclopedias as well as for The
Encyclopedia Brittanica.
Mr. Mulholland has performed and lec-
tured in countries all around the world.

He has been given awards by magicians'
organizations from the British Isles to
India, and he is an active or honorary

member of magical societies in America,
Europe and Asia. His home is in New
York City.

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Magic of the //orld

Magic of the World

Charles Scrihner's Sons • New York

This book published simultaneously in the

All rights reser\ed. No part of this book

1 • From the Beginning, 9

10 • Der Rote Geist, 95

11 • Tagina Metal, 105

14 • Followers of Merlin, 137

15 • The Erring Eves, 149

17 • The Magic Show, 181

From the Beginning

an egg — only a magician can do this."

Of course, the magician exchanged the stone he had shown for an

words the magician actually had made an egg out of a stone.

appeared to do and were delighted to see an egg, fruit, or vegetable made

days, that was what made magic interesting.

Today, as has been true for several thousand years, a magician is

an entertainer who seems to do the impossible. Watching someone ap-

form of entertainment for people of every nationality. There are magi-

that people everywhere are very much alike.

We do not know all of the magic performed by the first magicians.

printed book in English which explained magic was published in 1584,

ninetv-two years after Columbus sailed to America. While many of the

carded bv present-day magicians. Because today's spectators do not

languages. Manv books are privately printed for magicians only. At

centurv, that books have given explicit instructions in magic. There is

derstand that in a game of baseball it is possible to hit a ball a great

It is quite another thing to hit the ball during a game.

Through the centuries, magic shows have undergone many

donkey, or even a horse. When magicians could carry more objects,

belongings the magicians continued to give their shows in marketplaces

pockets put in their robes. Throughout history, magicians had to omit

some tricks and were able to perform others because of changes in

As the centuries passed, some magicians became so entertaining

put up stages, and remained in one location for months at a time.

Many magicians continued to show their magic to small groups

Some would be paid to give their shows in private homes of wealthy

pear in sequence with other performers such as actors, singers, instru-

a complete show of mysteries.

as well as huge ones having several thousand seats.

The mid-twentieth century brought one new way for magicians to

show their magic — in front of television cameras. It is possible now for

a magician to give one show on television to an audience larger than

As times change, so does magic. Perhaps the greatest changes have

they did not understand. However, as the fund of human knowledge

science was very mysterious. It is understandable that people soon ex-

scientific discovery, a greater number of people realized that the won-

result of magic. So the magicians returned to the use of simple, non-

magician is only an entertainer, an ordinary man who pretends to have

While the history of magic is largelv a record of the work of pro-

their friends. The professional magician has to devote years to practice

tion as well as in manipulation. Although some amateurs become as

A person is a magician whether he makes magic his profession or

which goes around the world.

How Maffic Works

An magic depends upon fooling the minds of the spectators. Those

You might like to test your friends on an example of what the