Old-Time Magic
Removing 36 Cannon Balls from a Handbag
Balls Made of Spring Wire
The magician produces a small handbag and informs the audience that he has it filled with 20-lb. cannon balls. He opens up the bag and takes out a ball which he passes to the audience for examination. The ball is found to be the genuine article. He makes a few passes with the wand and produces another ball, and so on until 36 of them lie on the floor.
In reality the first ball, which is the one examined, is the real cannon ball, the others are spiral-spherical springs covered with black cloth (Fig. 1). These balls can be pressed together in flat disks and put in the bag, Fig. 2. without taking up any great amount of space. When the spring is released it will fill out the black cloth to represent a cannon ball that cannot be distinguished from the real article.
Contributed by J. F. Campbell, Somerville, Mass.
A Rising Card Trick
Card Slips from the Pack
A rising card trick can be accomplished with very little skill by using the simple device illustrated. The only things needed are four ordinary playing cards and a short rubber band. Pass one end of the rubber band through one card and the other end through the other card, as shown in the illustration, drawing the cards close together and fastening the ends by putting a pin through them. The remaining two cards are pasted to the first two so as to conceal the pins and ends of the rubber band.
Put the cards with the rubber band in a pack of cards; take any other card from the pack and show it to the audience in such a way that you do not see and know the card shown. Return the card to the pack, but be sure and place it between the cards tied together with the rubber band. Grasp the pack between your thumb and finger tightly at first, and by gradually loosening your hold the card previously shown to the audience will slowly rise out of the pack.
Contributed by Tomi O'Kawara, San Francisco, Cal.