FAMILY FUN

New Zealand Tablet, 8 May 1913, Page 62

FAMILY FUN

‘ TRICKS AND ILLUSIONS. (Special to the N.Z. Tablet by Mahatma.) A Great Coin Trick,—A coin is borrowed from a. spectator by the performer. Without glancing at it he throws it upon the table and calls out the date upon. .the coin. Upon examination this is found to be correct. Two coins are used. One is placed in the palm of the hand by the performer before, commencing. When he . receives the coin from a spectator he adroitly changes it for the palmed coin. With a little practice this will be found easy of accomplishment. It is this coin which • he throws upon the table, and as he has had a good look at the date before beginning the experiment the rest of the trick is not difficult. It would be well to

point out here a very important rule which the aspiring conjuror must always bear in mind. . In brief it is this: Never inform your • audience of the effect youintend to produce. In the above trick, for example, all the effect would be lost if the audience were informed that you intended to discover the date on the coin, for someone would be sure to want to have a look at it before you obtained possession of it. Mysterious Addition. is another very mystifying trick. The performer takes a handful of. coins or counters, and invites one of the spectators to do the same and to take a mental note of whether the number he holds is odd or even. The coins are then dropped into a hat. The conjuror takes up a second handful, and drops these also-in with the others. He now tells the audience that if the number of- coins dropped into the hat by the spectator is odd the number of coins which he adds will make the total number even, whereas if the number of coins already in the hat is even his addition will make it odd. The explanation depends upon an old arithmetical principle that if an odd number be added to an even number an odd total will result, while an odd number added to and odd number gives an even total. The performer then has only to remember to add an odd number of coins each time.

A Card Trick.—Take from a pack of cards the four aces, kings, queens, and knaves, and make four separate piles with them, each containing an ace, king, queen, and knave, in regular order. Place these seta face downwards on the table and put first set on top of second, second on top of third, and these twelve cards on top of the fourth. Let several members of the company cut the cards— cuts .only— each cut placing at the bottom those cards removed from the top. Then deal the cards out again in four sets, one card for each set in sequence, and each of these sets will be found to contain four cards of a —i.e., four queens, four kings, four knaves, and four aces. If the sets are then taken up again in order and cut several times the cards will be found to be in the same order as at first.

An Effective Rope Release.—This illusion has a rather startling effect. The performer's wrists are tied together with a handkerchief, palm to palm with fingers outstretched. A piece of rope or binder twine is then passed round the handkerchief and between this and the performer's body, the two ends being .held by one of the company. The hands must next be covered with a cloth and instructions given to the person holding the rope to pull hard. When this is done it will be found that, owing to the ' give' in the handerchief, that part of the rope passing between the performer's wrists' will be drawn sufficiently- forward to allow him to work one hand under it. The rope will then be at the back of the hand, and a good tug will have the effect of freeing the performer. A handkerchief should be placed over the hands while the experiment is in progress in order to screen the modus operandi.