The Floating Barrel
The performer, who, as previously stated, should be dressed as a Chinaman, or in a white costume of some description, stands alone in full view of his audience. Presently he makes a beckoning motion, and a large white barrel floats slowly into view. To the amazement of the spectators, it drops gently to the ground at the magician’s feet.
He then turns to the other side of the stage and repeats the beckoning motion. Immediately a second barrel makes its appearance, and deposits itself on the ground a short distance from the first.
Turning to the audience the performer borrows a dozen or so rings, chains, and other trinkets. Walking back to the stage, he holds the borrowed trinkets above the mouth of one barrel, and clearly drops the mass of jewelry into it. The next moment, without a second’s pause, the illusionist seizes the barrel and turns it upside down.
Nothing falls out. It is perfectly empty!
Thereupon he darts to the other barrel, turns it over, and out shower the trinkets.
The performer replaces them, and immediately overturns that barrel as he did the first. But once again the jewelry is found to have disappeared. Nor can it be discovered in the other barrel.
Retreating to one side of the stage, however, the illusionist waves his hands. There is a slight flash, and a small Japanese table is seen standing in the center of the stage, with the trinkets heaped upon it.
This is a very effective illusion, but it can be even improved upon, as the reader will see when he has read the following simple explanation of the trick.
Its success lies almost entirely with the “black” assistant previously referred to. The “floating” barrels are simply carried in by this assistant, who must take care to hold them in such a manner that his black-gloved hands do not show up against the white wood.
Whilst the performer is collecting the articles of jewelry the assistant holds a small bag or sack in the mouth of the barrel. Consequently, when the performer drops the trinkets into the barrel, they in reality enter the sack, when it is a simple thing for the assistant to transfer them to the second barrel—the black bag rendering them invisible during transit.
Immediately the performer appears to deposit the trinkets in the barrel for the second time, the assistant again secures them in his small sack. This time, however, he carries them to the side of the stage, where a Japanese table has been placed in readiness out of sight of the audience. This table is draped with black cloth, which, as already explained, makes it invisible. The assistant merely lifts up this cloth and empties the trinkets from the sack on to the table. Then, replacing the cloth, he carries the table and its contents to the middle of the stage.
Next he simply whisks away the black cloth when the performer gives the signal, and the table, with its small heap of jewelry, stands revealed.
As previously stated, this illusion can easily be improved upon. For instance, the “black” assistant can place a live rabbit in one of the barrels, giving the audience the impression that the jewelry has undergone a somewhat extraordinary, though unprofitable, transformation.
The performer should attempt to vary the nature of his entertainment as much as possible, and the following illusion could very well occupy the next place upon the programme.
In obedience to the performer’s command, a large white box or wicker-basket floats on to the stage. This, as the reader will have been able to gather from the explanation of the previous illusion, is simply carried on by the “black” assistant.
After having shown that the box or basket—as the case may be—is perfectly empty, the illusionist raises it from the stage by placing four blocks, one under each corner. This is to prove the impossibility of a “false bottom” or trap-door being used.
A man now walks on to the stage, with a white sheet wrapped round him, and looking like a Dervish or bernoused Arab. Stepping into the basket, he coils himself up until he is concealed at the bottom.
There is a pause of a few seconds, after which a low groan issues from the interior of the basket. A moment later the sheet is seen to shoot up into the air, and collapse in a heap upon the stage. Both sheet and basket are examined; but their human occupant has disappeared—has vanished, as it were, into thin air!
The illusionist next throws the sheet back into the basket. No sooner has he done this than it is seen mysteriously to raise itself on end. Then for a second time it collapses. A moment later, however, a second disturbance is seen to be in progress inside the basket, and this time the white-robed man rises from it, and steps out upon the stage.
The secret of this illusion lies in the fact that the “black” assistant and white-robed man are one and the same person.
Directly the assistant has carried the wicker basket in, and whilst the illusionist is showing the audience that it is perfectly empty, he slips “behind the scenes,” and, taking off his black mask and gloves, hastily arrays himself in the sheet.
In this guise he again makes his appearance, and steps into the basket. No sooner has he snuggled down at the bottom, however, than he quickly throws off the sheet and replaces the gloves and mask. Giving vent to a hollow groan, he flings the sheet into the air. This for a moment diverts the attention of the spectators, and gives the assistant time to step from the basket, behind which he remains in readiness to continue with the second part of the illusion. In his black clothes he will, of course, be quite unseen.
When the performer puts the sheet back into the basket, the assistant merely stoops and slowly lifts it up, until he can step back into the basket under cover of it.
As he allows the sheet to collapse for the second time, he sinks down with it out of sight. He then again removes his black mask and gloves, and envelops his body in the sheet.
This done, the hard-worked “black” assistant in his Dervish disguise has simply to step from his place of concealment into full view of the audience, and the illusion is complete.