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Paper Magic

The Whole Art of Paper Tricks, Including Folding, Tearing & Puzzles

Dover Publications, Inc.

HOUDINI'S PAPER MAGIC

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THE TRAVELLING PAPER BALLS

The following is a good impromptu combination that can be done anywhere, no preparation being necessary.

Roll up three paper pellets about the size of a pea and throw them on a table or chair seat where all can see them. Then showing the right hand empty, pick up a pellet with the thumb and finger of the left and place it in the right, saying, "one," and immediately closing the hand. Repeat with the second, saying, "two." Pick up the third and say : "This one we will send on its travels." Throw it under some piece of furniture or out of the window, and immediately opening the right hand, throw the three pellets on the chair.

Continue, "Didn't you catch it? I'll do it again." Proceed as before, but after counting "one," and closing the right hand, stop, as if someone had questioned the move, open the right hand and show that there is only one pellet there, close the hand and finish as before.

Now say, "Perhaps some of you can't see how it is done even now, probably because the balls are too small. Let's try it with larger ones." Take a page of a newspaper and tear it into quarters, rolling each piece into a ball about the size of a golf-ball and placing them on the floor in a quadrangle about eighteen inches apart. Then borrow two hats and place over the two balls farthest from you, and put the other two balls one on top of each hat. Pick the ball from the top of the left hand hat with the left hand and transfer it to the right, and make a motion as if tossing it in the air, showing the right hand empty. Then point with that hand as if following the ball as it invisibly falls toward the left-hand hat. On lifting the hat, two balls will be found under it. Cover these again and repeat the process with the other ball. Raise the hat and show three balls. Cover once more and command the ball under the right hand hat to join the others under the left without your assistance. When the right hand hat is lifted the ball has vanished and the four will be found under the left.

Explanation. — When rolling the small pellets make four instead of three and hold the fourth one concealed between the points of the first and second fingers of the left hand. When you put the first ball in the right hand, drop the concealed one with it and carelessly show the left hand empty. Pick up the second one openly and place it in the right hand, opening the hand only enough to slip the ball in, not enough to show the others. Take up the third ball and pretend to throw it away, but really roll it into the concealed position at the tips of the fingers and immediately throw down the three from the right hand.

The second time you put only one ball in the right hand, still holding the extra ball hidden. Display the single ball in the right hand, as described above. Close the hand and pick up the second pellet, and as you place it in the right hand leave the hidden ball also. This time you really throw away the third ball, produce the three and show both hands empty.

The passing of the large ball is an entirely different trick, but you should make it appear that it is only an enlargement of the above.

Roll up the four balls and place them on the floor as in the above description. Hold the two hats by the rims with the thumbs on top and the fingers underneath. Remark that it does not make any difference which ones you cover, at the same time holding the hats first over one pair and then over another, passing quickly from one to the other. At last bring the hat held in the right hand over the ball in the upper corner on that side in such a way that the back of your fingers rest on the ball, and, clipping a fold of this ball between the middle fingers, draw the hand away from the hat with the ball held on the back. At the same instant pass the hat held in the left hand over to the right, so that when the hand comes from beneath the first hat the other is above it, and the right hand immediately seizes this hat by the brim as before, which brings the ball inside. The hat is carried across and dropped on the left hand ball and the hand withdrawn, thus leaving the two balls together. A ball is now placed on top of each hat.

With the left hand pick up the ball from the top of the hat on that side and pretend to pass it into the right, in reality palming it in the left hand by pinching a fold between the thumb and the side of the hand. Make the throwing motion as described and as you stoop down it is a perfectly natural move to place the left hand on the left leg above the knee while reaching with the right to turn over the hat. This will effectually conceal the ball held in that hand. Raise the hat and show the two balls. As soon as the hat is raised it is passed to the left hand and while that hand is covered the ball is brought to the finger tips and held inside as before and the hat dropped over the two balls. Repeat this with the other ball. As they are now all together, the rest of the trick is merely conversation.

RING AND PROGRAM

This was one of the best features of the program given by Guibal when he played at the Eden Musée many years ago. It was not new even at that time; in fact, I had made it a part of my own show in my amateur days; but it is extremely effective if properly handled, and it has always been a surprise to me that it has not come into more general use.

Guibal probably learned the trick from Verbeck, for whom he acted as interpreter during the tour of the latter in England. His clever patter is said to have greatly benefited the Verbeck performance, but later there was a disagreement, and Guibal started for himself, giving practically the same program.

The effect of the trick in question is as follows: A wedding ring is borrowed from a lady in the audience, and a program from another. A volunteer assistant is invited upon the stage, asked to watch every move and see that no deception is practised. The performer then brings a small hammer from his table and asks the volunteer to hammer the ring flat, but stops him in order first to get the consent of the lady. Her answer being "yes," he then says, "Then, madam, the 'yes' that you have just spoken is as irrevocable as your 'yes' when you received the ring."

The volunteer now hammers the ring perfectly flat. Meanwhile the performer has torn a leaf from the program and holds it spread on his open right palm, with his thumb on top. The assistant places the ring on the paper, sliding it under the thumb of the performer, who immediately crushes it up into a rough package and passes it with the same hand to the gentleman, the left hand never having approached the right, and asks him to hold it a moment. Turning to his table, he picks up a stick of sealing-wax and with it makes three quick motions toward the crushed program and then asks him to open it. On doing so, the assistant finds that the program has changed to an envelope, sealed with sealing-wax. Opening this he finds another smaller one, and inside this still another, which contains the ring restored to its original shape.

After the young man acknowledges that he does not see how it has been done, the performer does it all over again. This time the last envelope is opened by the owner of the ring, who finds it fully restored.

Explanation. — The borrowed ring is on the end of the performer's wand, a dummy ring being held on the opposite end covered by the hand. By changing the wand from hand to hand the rings are "switched" and the dummy is given to the volunteer to hold. When going to the table for the hammer, the borrowed ring is left there, and while the dummy is being flattened, the stage assistant carries off the original while taking away some other apparatus. The assistant places this ring inside a set of three envelopes made from a program exactly like the borrowed one, and a little later it is brought on and left behind some object on the table.

During this time the volunteer has flattened the ring and the performer has spread the leaf of the program on his palm, as above, but at the same time he has taken a duplicate set of envelopes with a duplicate dummy ring in the inner one from beneath his vest and holds it underneath the leaf. This is easily done, as the package is small and is held in place by the thumb. When the leaf is crushed up, the two packages look like one, and when they have been crushed quite small, the envelopes are brought to the top and passed to the volunteer, the other package being retained in the hand. This sounds rather difficult, but a little practice will make the move absolutely invisible.

The performer now turns to his table to get the sealing-wax and gets rid of the palmed package, and the trick proceeds as described above.

For the repetition, while the volunteer is flattening the ring, the performer goes to the table and gets another leaf of the program, and at the same time gets possession of the other set of envelopes, which contains the borrowed ring, and the trick is finished as given above.

Guibal used to finish by gathering up the torn envelopes after the lady had opened the last one and found her ring, and rolling them into a ball, passing them to the lady who had loaned him the program. Upon opening them she found her original program none the worse except for a few wrinkles. This substitution was by the same method used earlier in the trick.

THE CIGARETTE-PAPER TEAR

Standing very high in the aristocracy — one might even say the royalty — of pocket tricks, is our old friend the cigarette trick. Many of the cleverest magicians of our time have held this little illusion in high esteem, and, while the general manipulation is practically the same in all cases, each of the "big fellows" has used some variation reflecting his own individuality.

The bare bones of the trick may be summed up as follows: With the hands shown to be quite empty, a cigarette paper is torn into bits, which are rolled into a ball or pellet. This, being immediately opened, is shown to have been restored to its original form, the pieces seemingly having been magically rejoined. Usually the trick is repeated to "show how it is done," but the repetition only serves to deepen the mystery.

First, I will explain the trick as presented by our late beloved dean, Harry Kellar, who gave me permission to do so.

Kellar folded a duplicate paper into a small packet and stuck it on the left thumb-nail with magician's wax. By holding the hands near the body, palms outward, this was not visible even when he was surrounded by spectators. Holding the other paper in his right hand, he brought the hands together, slowly tore the paper into bits and rolled it into a small packet. Then he switched the packets, leaving the pieces attached to the thumb-nail, and, continuing the slow motions, opened the packet and displayed the apparently restored paper. This he allowed to flutter to the floor, showing the hands empty as at the beginning.

At the first opportunity he shifted the pieces from the nail to the inside of the hand and got rid of them.

Of course he used this only as an impromptu pocket trick and the mystery of the restoration was greatly enhanced by the slow and deliberate manner in which it was presented.

When his audience was all in front, the hands could be held well away from the body without fear of the hidden packet being seen.

Another method is that used by a friend of mine, a society entertainer in New York City, who has supplied me with the following minutely detailed summary of the trick as performed by himself.

First, fold a cigarette paper lengthwise in accordion plaits one-fourth of an inch wide, then fold over and over (not accordion fashion) in the opposite direction in folds of the same size, which makes a package one-fourth of an inch square. I usually have a number of papers thus folded in my pocket, so that I am always prepared for the trick.

Hold this package concealed between the tips of the first and second fingers of the left hand and pick up the "book" of cigarette papers with the same hand, tear out a single paper and hold it between the left thumb and finger while you lay the book aside with the right hand. While doing this, roll the square package to the ball of the left forefinger, which brings it behind the open paper and between the balls of the finger and thumb. Press it firmly against the back of the paper and it becomes entirely invisible from all points of view. Both hands are now displayed, back and front, with the fingers widely distended.

Now, roll the square package back to its position between the fingers and proceed to tear the visible paper into strips, not bits, and fold them into a package similar to the concealed package. Fold over and over, so that there may be no loose ends and the last fold will bring the two packages together; then turn once more, which will bring the whole paper to the top and the pieces next to the forefinger, and hold both packages, which look like one, between the points of the two forefingers. This shows that there is nothing concealed anywhere about the hands. Then proceed to open up the whole paper and, in smoothing it out, roll the pack of pieces behind it and press against the back as before. The restored paper can now be freely shown, back and front; but, before anyone has time to figure out where the torn pieces have gone, you say: "Now I am going to show you how it is done." At the same time you crush up the restored paper with the fingers of both hands and pretend to put it in your pocket with the left; what you really do, however, is to leave the torn pieces in the pocket and roll the whole paper to the position between the tips of the fingers as it was at the beginning.

Then, say: "Of course you know by this time that I use two pieces of paper." While saying this take two pieces from the "book," one of which you pass to the left hand, thus covering the concealed pack, and the other you crush up into a pellet. Continue the patter by saying: "One of the papers I show you" — displaying the one in the left hand — "and the other I conceal at the roots of my thumb, thus." Suiting the action to the word you place the pellet between the left thumb and the side of the palm.

Remember, you now hold a whole paper between the thumb and finger of the left hand and pressed against the back of this is another whole one, while a third is held at the roots of the left thumb. Now, tear the open piece into strips and roll into a pellet. With the fingers of the right hand you next pretend to exchange the pellet of torn pieces for the whole paper at the roots of the thumb. As a matter of fact, you do not make the exchange, and right here I use a sleight that I have never seen anyone else introduce into the trick. After tearing the paper I take both the torn strips and the concealed pellet into the right hand and, while rolling up the strips, I conceal the torn pieces between the points of the first and second fingers of the right hand. After pretending to make the exchange I return the whole piece only to the fingers of the left. By this means I am enabled to show the left hand empty with the exception of the pack held by the thumb, during the supposed exchange.

Pretend to have a little difficulty in opening out the paper. This gives an excuse for dampening the fingers of the right hand on the tongue, in doing which you leave the torn pieces in the mouth. The little struggle with this paper also dislodges the pack held by the thumb and it drops to the floor, as if by accident, upon which you say: "That was rather a bad bungle, but let the pieces lie there for the present." Then smooth out the paper, showing it to be fully restored, hold it between the finger and thumb, and with a breath blow it out into your audience and show both hands absolutely empty.

Finish by saying : "A magician is always supposed to have something up his sleeve and what I now have in that suspected locality is a method of getting out of difficulty in case of an accident. For instance, these pieces dropped to the floor" — picking up the pellet — "and it made no difference, as I was showing you how the trick was done; but if it had happened during the first showing I could still have saved the situation by blowing on the pieces like this," — blowing on the pellet — "which has the effect of knitting them together, as you see." Open the pellet and show it to be intact, allow it to flutter to the floor and show the hands back and front with fingers wide apart.

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Excerpted from Paper Magic by Harry Houdini. Copyright © 2017 Harry Houdini. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
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