Arthur Ainslie

“ If he is performing in a room with the front rows of his audience close to him the utmost he can do—in the way of showing the interior of the cylinder—is to point it to the audience on his right and then bring it round with a quick sweep to the audience on his left. It is as well to have an assistant for this trick, but the assistant must be "in the know"—the conjurer's very own assistant, because he—or, better still, she—is asked to hold the cylinder with both hands while the conjurer fills it with water, and the conjurer cannot allow a member of the audience to undertake that task. ”

“ There is a hole in the centre of the saucer and the hole in the bottom of the cup goes exactly over the hole in the saucer. Thus, when the water is poured into the cup it finds its way directly into the saucer and the cup can at once be lifted up. The trick is more suitable for a stage than for a drawing-room; even a little confetti makes a big litter in a room. Still, some good-natured hostesses, if asked if they would have any objection to a litter of confetti in a room, would be sure to reply: "Not the slightest, do what you like as long as you amuse the children." ”

“ You work up the excitement as you say: "No cardboard is used in the trick."
Your audience will jump to the conclusion that something besides the articles they see is used, but they are wrong. The trick can be done when you know how to do it.
When everyone has "given it up" fold the paper in pleats lengthwise, open out the pleats a little, and rest the paper on the tops of two of the glasses. The paper is then in corrugated form and it will bear the weight of the third glass, half full of water, upon it. You have achieved the "impossible." ”

“ To cause a glass of water to vanish is hardly a complete trick, but it may well form part of many magical experiments. Thus, if you are presenting the "Rice Bowls" (see Chapter V) you can proceed with the trick up to the point when the rice has been secretly removed and the water is in readiness for the final effect. Leave the bowls as they are, one inverted on the other, and show a silk hat to the audience, letting them see inside it. ”

“ Maybe it is for that reason that one seldom hears of a young amateur including the "Wine and Water" trick in his repertoire. I once heard a young amateur state his objection to the trick.
"Oh, it's so obviously just a chemical experiment," he said.
He was wrong. If the trick is presented properly it will not be "just a chemical experiment" but a very entertaining little bit of magic—simple in its effect, and very short. The trick used to be in the repertoire of Mr. David Devant, and other notable magicians have performed it in public. ”

“ Theoretically, when the conjurer picks up the faked bowl and holds it upside down he convinces the audience that the bowl is empty. How can there be anything in a bowl which is held upside down? Still, I think you will admit that if you can show the interiors of both bowls at the beginning of the performance you make it a much "stronger" trick than if you show only one bowl and let the state of the other be taken for granted. ”

“ When all the sand from one of the bags has been poured out on to the hand—naturally a good deal of it will fall into the bowl—the conjurer turns his hand over and lets the sand drop into the bowl; at the same time he merely has to take his right little finger away from the bottom of the bag and the blocks fall into the water. They drop behind the falling sand, and being of the same colour they are not noticed by the audience.
If the conjurer does not care for this method of getting the prepared blocks into the water he can have larger bags and have the prepared blocks in them with the sand. ”

“ It is advisable to have the cover made of tin. When you are putting a cardboard cover with the metal lining inside it over the vase it is not an easy matter to prevent the lining from knocking against the top of the vase, and if you are performing at close quarters the audience may hear the "chink" of metal against metal. You get over that difficulty by having the cover made of tin.
If you want to raise a laugh easily at the close of this trick you can pretend to overhear someone say that the water is not real water. ”

“ It must have heard me; you see, the weather is so changeable—it always is; that's why the word is so useful to conjurers, although I once knew a conjurer who used a shorter word when his trick went wrong. I don't think this trick has gone wrong so far because you see the bottle and glass have changed places. (Lift covers and show them.) The worst of our magic word is that it works only once in a trick. ”

“ Until you have pattered for a whole minute without doing anything you do not realise what a very long time one minute can seem to be; you must remember that, to some members of the audience, at any rate, you appear to be talking for no reason whatever.
Well, I have presented this trick at St. George's Hall and at private performances and, as I have said, I prefer this method to the one with the china bowls. I admit, however, that a drawing-room conjurer may find the preparation of the trick a little tiresome. ”

“ For example, if he tears up a piece of paper into little pieces and then causes these pieces to form together into four strips equal in length when laid end to end, to the original piece, the conjurer is not behaving in a reasonable manner; he should cause the little pieces to join together into one strip and the audience must be led to believe that that strip is the original piece of paper and that in some mysterious manner the conjurer has joined the pieces together. The conjurer who does that brings his trick to what may be called a "logical conclusion." ”

“ I have often thought that many conjurers—amateur and professional—take themselves and their conjuring far too seriously. It is just as well to unbend occasionally, and as a little change from tricks to spring a simple catch on your audience. ”

“ I will try and show you how to make a rice pudding—a new kind of rice pudding. You cook it in two bowls, so as to give the rice room to swell. Even then it isn't swell rice. Swell rice is the kind which is used at weddings. A man doesn't mind how much of this (pouring rice into bowl) he has thrown in his face on his wedding day, but he does object to cold rice pudding more than five times a week after his wedding day. And he often gets it! ”

“ You can use one of the glasses for this trick. Half fill it with water and then, tilting the glass, try to balance it on the edge of the foot. With care and a little practice you can accomplish this feat by sheer skill, but you simplify it considerably if you take the precaution to slip a match under the table-cloth before you begin. If you are doing the trick at a dinner table it is just possible that some evil-disposed person may notice the little bump in the tablecloth caused by the match, and so you prepare for that charge by tying a piece of cotton to the match. ”

“ The preparation of the trick cards required for this trick is not a difficult matter. If expense is no object the best plan is to buy several packs of cards, with the backs all alike. A blank card usually goes with each pack. If the cards have no index corners you need prepare only two trick cards—one with four spots on it and one with three. To get the spots, put a ten-spot card in cold water and let it soak until you can peel away the face of it. Dry it on clean blotting paper. ”

“ The card is "forced"; that is to say, the conjurer apparently allows the person who is taking the card to have a free choice, but he really makes sure that the person takes one particular card. An expert card conjurer can "force" one particular card from an ordinary pack, but to do this is not easy, and even an expert cannot be absolutely certain of forcing the card which he wishes to use in a trick. Therefore, since the beginner is out to make the trick as simple and sure as possible he should use a "forcing pack," which consists of one card repeated, say, forty times ”

“ If the larger one is really a shade too small for the shell bottle and is also too limp you will have difficulty in raising the cover quickly and leaving the shell bottle on the table; the bottle will get jammed in the cover and then—well—perhaps you had better tell the audience that the trick has not happened yet, but you hope it will in time! It is better to guard against such a catastrophe by having covers of the right size; they must not be too large or too small. ”

“ You pretend to be in difficulties and encourage the "knowing ones" in your audience to jeer at you as you try the trick again and again. You explain that there is a way of resting the glass on the paper in such a way that the paper shall not sink down. ”

“ There is no sadder sight in this world than an underdone rice pudding. Yes, I think it is done; anyhow we'll chance it. (Lift bowl, showing quantity of rice increased.) You see, by this method your rice does not swell in the cooking; the more you cook the more rice you get; there's far too much here. (Level rice off and replace bowl; if brass bowls are used invert them.)
"Perhaps I ought to have explained at the beginning that this method of cooking rice is rather slow; if the rice is at all aged and tough it may take hours and hours—or even longer—to cook itself in a proper manner ”

“ When one is performing to an audience composed chiefly of children the first two or three rows of seats are usually occupied by very small children, and from their positions they cannot see the top of the table. Raise the object which you are going to place on the table and you bring it within the view of everyone.
CHAPTER VII
THE DISSOLVED CARD
Every good trick has a clear, logical conclusion. Although the conjurer is apparently reversing one of Nature's laws he must also be more or less reasonable in his performance. ”

“ You can keep the game going for quite a little time if you can induce enough brave spirits to take a hand, but sooner or later someone is sure to suggest that you try the trick yourself. You at once consent, and you tell your audience that if they will cut the string you will most certainly catch the mug directly it falls. ”

“ The conjurer then takes the glass with his left hand, the fingers, being in front of the glass, help to hide the mirror. Then—well, the rest is easy! Directly the chain has been taken out the conjurer should put the glass down behind some piece of apparatus on the table; the audience cannot be permitted to gaze at it for any length of time.
Fig. 16 The Milk Cans
You have seen the toy milk cans in a shop? By having two of these "faked" in the way shown in the illustrations you can compose two or three little tricks. I have already explained a trick in which one of the cans can be used. ”

“ Then take away the glass and you are ready for the next trick.
A word as to the appearance of the bottles and the covers. These can be bought at a conjuring shop and you will find that, as the Scotsman said of various brands of whiskey, "Some are better than others." You want a bottle which looks exactly like the real thing, and the only way of making quite sure of getting it is to take an empty bottle with you when you are buying the trick. Note the slope of the "shoulder" of the bottle. The labelling you can do yourself. ”

“ The top of the partition does not come up to the top of the cylinder because one compartment, filled with flags before the commencement of the trick, is closed with a little semi-circular lid, and as this lid has to be opened before the flags can be produced it follows that if it were level with the top of the cylinder it would be seen. The whole of the interior is painted a dull black. ”

“ Just ordinary plain water, the stuff that farmers and gardeners always want when they haven't got it, and always grumble about when they have. If you live in a town you grumble because you have to pay for it, whether you use much or little; some people don't run any risk of using too much. ”