Peerless Prestidigitation Part 1

Peerless Prestidigitation.

by Herbert De Caston.

INTRODUCTORY SPEECH.

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

In calling your attention to a deceptive entertainment, Legerdemain, more generally known as Conjuring, a few introductory remarks may not be out of place. The superst.i.tion that existed in the early ages, when wizards and magicians were supposed to exist, time has not worn out; the mystery that hangs over all professors of magic is still in part retained. Many there are who cla.s.s them amongst supernatural beings, their seeming impossibilities are converted into positive realities, their power supposed to be supreme. Now, were I, in this the twentieth century, to stand before you professing to be a wizard or a magician--or, in fact, to be that which I am not--endowed with supernatural power, it would be looked upon as a gross insult to your good sense; for in truth the only peculiarity of my profession is to deceive--yours to detect. If my hands are quicker than your eyes, I shall have the pleasure of deceiving you; but, on the contrary, if your eyes are quicker than my hands, the reverse will be the result.

Peerless Prestidigitation.

THE LATEST CARD FORCE.

_Effect._--A pack of unprepared cards is shuffled by any member of the audience and handed to the performer, who requests one of the spectators to secretly note a card by simply raising a portion of the pack whilst held in the hand of the performer, who turns his head away whilst this is being done. The cards are again shuffled, and the performer instantly names the selected card.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Modus Operandi._--After the cards have been thoroughly examined and shuffled by the spectators the performer takes the pack (face downwards) and quietly bends them over his hand, the bend being so slight that it is hardly noticeable. He then grasps the pack at one end between the first finger and thumb of either hand, and requests a spectator to select a card in the manner described above. It will be found that the action of raising the cards causes a slight break at the spectator's card, and enables the performer to insert his little finger beneath the same and make the pa.s.s which brings the selected card to the bottom. After getting a glimpse of the card the pack can be again shuffled and the trick brought to a conclusion in any manner desired.

THE PHANTOM CARD.

_Effect._--A pack of cards is spread face downwards upon the table, and one of the audience is requested to choose five cards and hand the same to the performer, who arranges the cards fan-shape in his hand. The spectator is now asked to name any one of the five cards, after which the performer drops the cards face _upwards_ upon the table, and, to the astonishment of the audience, the named card has entirely vanished, four cards only being visible. These cards are now turned face downwards and mixed with the remainder of the pack, which it will be remembered is still lying scattered upon the table. The performer, showing his hands quite empty, now proceeds to select another five cards, which he places face down upon the floor at the feet of his temporary a.s.sistant and asks him to touch with a stick any one of the five cards. The a.s.sistant does so, and, to his astonishment, the touched card is turned over and seen to be the missing card.

_Modus Operandi._--When the pack has been spread face down upon the table and the five cards handed to the performer, he asks for one of the five cards to be named. This having been done, he gives the cards a shuffle, and contrives to get the named card to the top, and secretly reverses it. It will thus be seen that when the cards are dropped faces up upon the other cards scattered about the table, the selected card has apparently vanished. The four remaining cards are now turned over and mixed with the others, the performer being careful not to lose sight of the named card. Five cards are now taken seemingly at random off the table, one of them of course being the selected card. The faces of these five cards are not shown, but are immediately placed upon the floor, care being taken to get THE card in the centre of the row. It will be found that in nine cases out of ten the spectator invariably touches the middle card, which, on being turned over, is found to be the one he originally selected. Should the spectator, however, touch any other card you simply revert to the well-known (to conjurers) dodge of "Very well, we don't require this card," etc., etc.

THE "DE CASTON" METHOD OF "RISING CARDS" FROM HAND.

_Effect._--Several cards having been selected and marked by the audience are returned to the pack, which is thoroughly shuffled. The cards rise from the pack whilst held in the performer's hand, and when two-thirds of the card is visible. The performer requests the spectator to remove his card himself, which he does, the card being drawn out from about the centre of the pack. The remaining cards are produced in a like manner, the effect being quite weird.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

_Modus Operandi._--For the purpose of this most mystifying card effect it is necessary to prepare a few cards by cutting an oblong slit in each card wide enough to admit the first finger. These cards are then placed in a side pocket, or _pochette_, and the remainder of the pack handed to several spectators for the purpose of having cards selected and marked. This having been done the performer proceeds to collect the cards, each card when placed in the pack being brought to the top by means of the pa.s.s, and after the last card has been returned, the conjurer palms off all the selected cards and hands the pack out to be shuffled. On again receiving the pack in his hands he immediately replaces the palmed cards on top of the pack, and whilst calling attention to what has been done as regards freedom of choice, marking, shuffling, etc., he secretly secures the prepared cards and places them upon the chosen ones. By keeping a couple of fingers across the back of the pack it is an easy matter to casually show the front and back of the cards, and a great deal should be made of the fact that no threads, etc., are employed. When the first card (_i.e._, the last one returned by the audience) is well out of the pack, the finger again covers the slit and the pack is presented to the chooser for him to remove his card and verify the mark. The other cards are similarly dealt with, and the prepared ones are finally palmed off, disposed of, and the pack again pa.s.sed for inspection.

DE CASTON'S DISCOVERY.

AN ENTIRELY NEW CARD EFFECT.

A pack of cards having been shuffled, the performer deals about fifteen cards one by one face upwards upon the table, remarking, "You will observe that the cards are thoroughly mixed." During this action (which is the whole secret of this experiment) the performer secretly notes the _fifth_ card from the top of the pack, and when gathering up the cards takes care that the noted card is left in its original position.

He now makes four heaps of cards (faces down and about eight or ten cards in each heap), taking the cards from the _bottom_ of the pack, and when this has been done the conjurer quickly deals from the top of the pack one card on to the top of each heap, immediately throwing the next card (_i.e._, the noted one) face downwards to one of the spectators, who is requested to remember the card (which has seemingly been thrown out at random), and while he is doing so the performer is busy dealing the remainder of the cards in his hands on to the top of the four heaps. The spectator is now requested to place his card in any heap he prefers, and put all the heaps together, and again thoroughly shuffle, during which time the performer turns his back so as not to see which heap the card is placed in. It is now an easy matter to tell the name of the card, which should be done with hesitation and plenty of dramatic gesture. Try this trick, and remember to work it at rather a high rate of speed, and watch the effect on your audience.

A SPECTACULAR HANDKERCHIEF COMBINATION.

_Effect._--Three white handkerchiefs are borrowed, a coloured one being added to them (this being performer's own), and placed in a box; an umbrella is shown, replaced in its case, and a change is commanded to take place. The box is opened, and in place of the four handkerchiefs is the umbrella cover, and upon opening the umbrella case the umbrella is found minus the cover and the four handkerchiefs attached to its ribs. The handkerchiefs are removed and laid on a table, the umbrella being returned to the case, which is then placed aside.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

One of the white handkerchiefs and a pair of sharp scissors are taken to a spectator who is asked to mark the same, which he does, the result being (to the consternation of the performer) a large piece cut out of the centre. The performer apologises for the accident, and mentions that by a similar misunderstanding one of his own handkerchiefs was similarly treated the previous evening, in proof of which he shows a coloured handkerchief with a piece cut out of the centre. He says he will endeavour to restore the white handkerchief, and at the same time he will restore the coloured one. He places the two handkerchiefs with their respective loose centres in another piece of apparatus, and upon removing them discovers to his horror that the white handkerchief has the coloured centre and _vice versa_. He makes a frantic endeavour to unpick the st.i.tches, finally giving it up in despair. Another piece of apparatus is now introduced into which he places the two handkerchiefs, and thinking that it would be more interesting if he used all the borrowed handkerchiefs, he picks up the remaining handkerchiefs from the table and places them along with the two unfortunates. The performer announces that he is about to cut them all up, but before commencing to do so bethinks himself of his own good handkerchief which he removes and places in his pocket. After some by-play the handkerchiefs are shown in dozens of strips, which are offered to the respective owners to sort out, but this not meeting with the approbation of the lenders, the performer introduces a dove-pan into which he places the torn strips, and whilst descanting upon his trials and troubles he holds a lighted candle near the dove-pan and the pieces of cambric catch light. In order to extinguish the fire the performer claps the lid on the pan, and on removing the cover, out fly two doves, and the conjurer immediately removes the three borrowed handkerchiefs and his own coloured one quite restored.

_Modus Operandi._--This combination will enable magicians to bring into play some apparatus which they have probably put aside as obviously too mechanical. Properly presented, no better effect can be wished for.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

I shall not take up s.p.a.ce by describing in detail the various pieces of apparatus, the working, I take it, being well known to magicians of the present day.

_You will require_:--

A CHANGING DRAWER BOX, with umbrella cover in one compartment.

UMBRELLA CHANGING TUBE: in one side is the skeleton umbrella with three duplicate white handkerchiefs and one coloured handkerchief attached to the bare ribs. The other division contains the unprepared umbrella.

BURNING GLOBE, containing a white handkerchief with coloured centre and a coloured handkerchief with white centre.

HANDKERCHIEF MILL.--One of the compartments contains white and coloured strips, which will be shown to the audience later, as the borrowed handkerchiefs cut to pieces by the knives contained in the mill are produced.

DOVE-PAN.--The pan only is placed on centre table, the lid and inner lining being left behind the scenes to be brought on during the experiment.

THREE WHITE HANDKERCHIEFS (disposed of as mentioned above) to match those you intend to borrow.

THREE COLOURED HANDKERCHIEFS--one has already been disposed of, the second one is placed in your pocket and the third one is prepared by cutting a piece out of the centre; this latter mutilated handkerchief is laid on your table, both pieces being required.

A WHITE HANDKERCHIEF WITH COLOURED CENTRE, disposed of as above.

A COLOURED HANDKERCHIEF WITH WHITE CENTRE, disposed of as above.

A SMALL BOTTLE OF SPIRITS OF WINE, supposed by the audience to be water.